As a player, she was co-captain of the USA women’s basketball team, which won the silver medal at the Olympic Games in Montreal in 1976.
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The current Texas women’s basketball head coach spoke on Tuesday about the impact Summitt had on her. Tennessee – the only school she coached – won NCAA titles in 1987, 1989, 1991, 1996-98 and 2007-08.
Coach Summitt started her 38-year coaching career at Tennessee when she was just 22 years old. Wade says Summitt was intense and a student of the game. She says Summit’s success pushed her to chase similar dreams as a growing young basketball player. Summitt, though already in a fight for her life against Alzheimer’s, provided support. “And she was one of those people”. “If the Dallas Cowboys are big in football then UT basketball has to be one of the top 5 most impactful brands in sports and that is just wonderful” said Harris.
Pat is survived by her mother, Hazel Albright Head; son, Ross “Tyler” Summitt (AnDe); sister, Linda; brothers, Tommy (Deloris), Charles (Mitzi) and Kenneth (Debbie). UConn coach Geno Auriemma passed Summitt after she retired.
“She accomplished so much and she left the world as we know it, not remembering any of it and it’s hard for a humble person like she was”.
Amy Palmer of Knoxville said “it’s like we’ve lost a family member” after joining the dozens of fans who signed a “We (Heart) Pat” sign that was taped to the wall behind Summitt’s statue. Just the opposite. Summitt made her affliction public and coached a final season, with the help of assistants. “It wouldn’t have mattered because Pat could flat out coach”, Manning said in a statement.
“I just felt something was different, and you know, at the time, I didn’t know what I was dealing with”, she said. She wanted to remember her aura that ensnared the best players in the country, year after year. She even placed garbage cans in the gym so they’d have somewhere to be sick.
When you play AAU, basketball becomes everything and for many young women, Summitt is everything to basketball. She began her coaching career at Tennessee in the 1974-75 season, when her team finished 16-8.
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“Johnny Majors told us GAs: ‘Look, if you’re not the best teacher on campus, I don’t want you on our staff”, Gruden said Tuesday.
