Pioneer, innovator, staunch, persistence, determination, success. These are a number of traits possessed by the winningest basketball coach in NCAA history. Pat Summit’s legacy will be known for helping woman thrive not only in basketball but also beyond the playing field in life and striving for success from inequality in the workplace. Summit died Tuesday morning at a senior living facility in Knoxville.
Summit was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer in 2011. After years away from the public eye, her mental health continued to deteriorate, her dementia worsening. She was, however, able to launch the Pat Summit Foundation, which provides research and education about Alzheimer disease and provided services to patients who struggled with it. The Pat Summit Alzheimer’s Clinic is scheduled to open at the University of Tennessee in December. In the weeks leading up to her death, she was comforted by friends and family members who were asking people she knew closely for their prayers.
From 1974 to 2012 Summit built the Lady Vols into a dominant force in college basketball. She took over during a time when woman’s basketball was hardly recognized and prepared woman in a way that would transcend them towards success. During 38 seasons, she won 1,098 games. Her teams reached the NCAA tournament in 31 consecutive years. Throughout the 80’s and 90’s she won 20 games in each season. In 1998 she led one of the greatest NCAA teams in history having went 39-0 and winning the Tournament. Overall Summit helped Tennessee win 8 national titles, the most recent one in 2008. In 2012, Summit was awarded the Arthur Ashe courage award at the Espy Awards from fellow Tennessee Alum Peyton Manning and a presidential medal of freedom award from Barrack Obama in the same year. Both of them weighed in on Summit’s passing with statements of their own.
“She was one of the people I consulted with following my junior year when I was deciding whether to turn pro early or stay in college, Manning said. “She gave me some very valuable advice during that time. My teammates and I went to a lot of Lady Vols games when we were in school and I really enjoyed watching her teams play.”
“Her legacy, however, is measured much more by the generations of young women and men who admired Pat’s intense competitiveness and character, and as a result found in themselves the confidence to practice hard, play harder, and live with courage on and off the court,” Obama said. “For four decades, she outworked her rivals, made winning an attitude, loved her players like family, and became a role model to millions of Americans, including our two daughters.”
WNBA star Tamika Catchings, who was a freshman on the undefeated Tennessee Lady Vols team that won the national championship in 98′, paid a visit to her former coach two days prior to her death. After the visit, she gave homage to her former coach on her Instagram. The post demonstrates a coach that showed women how to lead by example with character and strength for all individuals that choose to excel in sports and life.
161 players in 38 years. The few, the proud the Lady Vols! We stand UNITED at all times!… https://t.co/6qkxu0f0Vj
— Tamika Catchings (@Catchin24) June 26, 2016
Today the Volunteer nation is mourning having lost an important icon to what the school represents. Her courage elevated the game of basketball to the forefront of what it is today.
“Featured Image via Flickr/aaronisnotcool“.
