Pat Summit, legendary head basketball coach at the University of Tennessee, has passed away at the age of 64 after a five-year struggle with Alzheimer\u2019s.<\/p>\n
At the mere age of 22, Summit, a graduate assistant at the University of Tennessee, was suddenly thrust into the position of head coach of the Tennessee Lady Volunteers basketball team after the previous coach unexpectedly quit. Barely older than her players, Summit earned $250 a month, washed her players\u2019 uniforms, and drove the team\u2019s van. This would go on to be the humble beginnings of one of the greatest coaches in women\u2019s basketball\u2014in all of basketball\u2019s\u2014history.<\/p>\n
Pat Summit, as head coach of the Lady Vols, would go on to win eight NCAA championships, become the first NCAA coach to achieve at least 1,000 wins, win an Olympic Gold Medal in 1984 as head of the first U.S. Women\u2019s Olympic team, and be named the Naismith Basketball Coach of the Century in 2000. As a testament to her legend, in 38 years as a coach, Summit never had a losing season.<\/p>\n
The most important part of her legacy, perhaps, is the force with which she changed the way the world viewed women\u2019s sports. Summit was one of the greatest, most respected coaches of all time, standing for women\u2019s rights simply by being the best and refusing to take anything less than she deserved. She made sure that her team received the same financial support that men\u2019s teams did, and set a new high for women\u2019s coaching salaries, and for finances given over to women\u2019s teams. She pushed her team to be the very best, and directed famously icy stares at the barest hint of underperformance. Of her power as a female figure in sports, her son, Tyler Summit, said, \u201cIt\u2019s not so much going out and changing the minds of men. It\u2019s empowering women to do whatever they want to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
She did just that, taking her team from having to sell doughnuts to pay for uniforms to having full financial backing on part with all-male teams. When summoned to Tennessee executive vice president Joe Johnson in the late 1980 and told to find a way to reduce her budget, Summit fired back with a counterproposal, pushing hard for Johnson to give her team the same resources that the rest of the non-revenue men\u2019s teams received. Johnson accepted, going on to later say that \u201cI\u2019ll always admire Pat for saying, \u2018I\u2019m not just talking about my sport; I\u2019m talking about all women\u2019s sports.\u201d Summit took the Lady Vols out of the era of traveling in vans and, before the end of her career, had them traveling in a charter jet, took them from indignity to fame, fortune, and equality. Today, women\u2019s college basketball outranks all but men\u2019s basketball and football in popularity.<\/p>\n
People noticed. Summit was asked to coach men\u2019s teams at Tennessee at least twice\u2014she was recognized not simply as a woman, but as the best in her field. For her achievements, President Obama awarded her the well-deserved Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012, and she received the Arthur Ashe Courage Award\u2014an award for those whose contributions transcends sports\u2014at the 2012 ESPY Awards. Listed at number 11 of the 50 greatest coaches of all time by the Sporting News, she was the only woman on the list. These are only a portion of her recognitions, and there will be likely more to come, posthumously.<\/p>\n
Pat Summit announced her diagnosis with early-onset dementia in 2011, at the age of 59, and went on to coach one more season before stepping down from her position in 2012. She leaves behind a legacy that truly transcends her role as basketball coach\u2014she was a role model for women, everywhere, changing the face of women\u2019s sports and, ultimately, the societal view of women. She is survived by her mother, Hazel Albright Head, her son, Ross Summit, her sister, Linda, and her brothers, Charles, Tommy, and Kenneth.<\/p>\n
A public memorial will be planned at the University of Tennessee\u2019s Thompson-Boling Arena at a later date.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Pat Summit, legendary head basketball coach at the University of Tennessee, has passed away at the age of 64 after a five-year struggle with Alzheimer\u2019s. At the mere age of 22, Summit, a graduate assistant at the University of Tennessee, was suddenly thrust into the position of head coach of the Tennessee Lady Volunteers basketball…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":605,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[21,9,23,20,22],"class_list":["post-51","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-basketball","tag-death","tag-memorial","tag-pat-summit","tag-patricia-sue-summit"],"yoast_head":"\n