Photo Credit: H. Darr Beiser/ USA TODAY
The sports world was shaken last week when it was reported that legendary couch Pat Summitt had passed away. Summitt was an extremely talented coach and all around terrific person, ravaged by a terrible disease. To honor Pat Summitt’s memory, she will be this week’s spotlight.
Summitt’s love affair with basketball started in high school. She was so dedicated to the sport that her family moved so she could play on the high school girl’s basketball team. She attended the University of Tennessee at Martin and wasn’t able to get a college scholarship, unlike her brothers, because there were no athletic scholarships for women at the time. In 1976, she played on the first Women’s Olympic basketball team and helped the team bring home a silver medal.
Before the Olympic games, Summitt was a grad assistant to the women’s basketball team at the University of Tennessee. After the coach quit in 1974, she became the team’s coach from then until 2012.  As the team was an extremely new program, Summitt would have to drive the team to all of their games, only earning $250 a month and washed all of the players uniforms. She earned her 100th win while she also worked to obtain her Master’s Degree in Physical Education.
In 1982, Summitt helped to lead the Lady Vols to the first ever NCAA Women’s basketball tournament. Unfortunately, the team didn’t end up winning; losing to Louisiana Tech in the semifinals round.  Summitt would help the Vols to become one of the most well-known college basketball teams in the country and coached them to 8 NCAA Division I Championships, 16 SEC Regular Season Championships and 16 SEC Tournament Championships. Their most recent NCAA Division I Championship came in 2008 which was also her 1,000th win.
Summitt’s best year as head coach was 1997-1998 season. The team went 39-0 that year and won their third consecutive championship. At the time, the team was anchored by Tamika Catchings and Chamique Holdsclaw who would both go on to have careers in the WNBA. Summitt earned her share of accolades including SEC Coach of the Year, AP Coach of the Year, Naismith Coach of the Year, U.S. Basketball Writers’ Association Coach of the Year and Russell Athletic/WCBA Division I Coach of the Year.
In 2011, Summitt announced that she had been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. However, she coached the 2011-2012 team before announcing her retirement in 2012. Summitt’s son, Tyler, became the assistant coach for Marquette University women’s team, the same day she announced her retirement. She finished out her coaching career with 1,068 wins and 208 losses. Her coaching style was unlike any other and many cited her famous “icy stare” that she gave to her players.
Throughout her career, Summitt won many awards for her coaching. She won the Best Coach/Manager ESPY Award in 2008,  the Arthur Ashe Courage Award and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012. She was named the Naismith Basketball Coach of the Century in 2000, made Sporting News’ list of the 50 greatest coaches of all time at number 11, and named the Sports Illustrated’s Sportswoman of the Year in 2011. She was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, the Tennessee Women’s Hall of Fame and the FIBA Hall of Fame.
Summit also authored three books in her lifetime. The first Reach for the Summitt was part autobiography and part motivational tool. Her second book Raise the Roof was about the 1996-1997 championship run of the Lady Vols and her last book, Sum It Up was an account of her life which including her diagnosis and her life after it.
Pat Summitt was truly one of the greatest basketball coaches. She coached and mentored some of the best and spent more than half of her life with the Lady Vols. Many of her former players have gone on to be coaches themselves. She was a one of a kind spirit and basketball was never the same until she showed up.
