Former Charleston Southern player will tell story on Katie Couric show

Katie LaRue, a former women’s basketball player at Charleston Southern, will appear on Katie Couric’s new talk show today to tell her story of recovery from a broken neck.

LaRue broke her neck in a mountain-biking accident in 1999 after her freshman season at Charleston Southern. She had a metal plate and two screws placed in her neck during emergency surgery.

The accident left her with almost no use of her right arm. But LaRue taught herself to play guitar as part of her physical therapy and returned to play three more seasons at Charleston Southern.

“By the time I graduated, I realized I wasn’t going to have basketball anymore,” LaRue said in a press release. “So I put a lot of energy into playing guitar.”

Now, LaRue is the head girls basketball coach and assistant athletic director at Mercersburg (Pa.) Academy, and is also a singer/songwriter preparing to release her third album.

Researchers for Couric’s new talk show (called “Katie”) discovered LaRue’s story while searching the Internet for the term “Katie.” LaRue taped her interview with Couric, former star of the Today Show and CBS News anchor, last week in New York.

“Katie” airs at 3 p.m. weekdays on WCIV (Channel 4) in Charleston.