Amid reports of Summitt’s failing health over the weekend, her family issued a statement asking for prayers and saying that the 64-year-old Summitt is surrounded by the people who mean the most to her.
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The family of former Tennessee women’s basketball coach Pat Summitt says that the last few days have been hard for the 64-year-old as her Alzheimer’s disease progresses. The family has also asked for privacy. “Since 2011, my mother has battled her toughest opponent, early onset dementia, ‘Alzheimer’s Type, ‘ and she did so with bravely fierce determination just as she did with every opponent she ever faced”, Tyler Summitt said.
“There’s no visitors allowed anymore, and Pat will probably pass into heaven in the next few days”, said pastor Chris Stephens, who says he will preside over Summitt’s funeral.
Dustin Dopirak is the Tennessee football beat writer.
Summitt expressed optimism in her acceptance speech.
“She was a great friend”, Pearl said. This disease attacked a lifetime of precious memories, memories that she has now won back as she rests in her eternal home. “Are you kidding me”, she asked as she grabbed my arm and away we went. “I am going to keep on keeping on, I promise you that”.
President Barack Obama awards the Medal of Freedom to former basketball coach Pat Summitt in 2012. “It was just the presence she had when she walked into a room”. Her tireless work ethic and her love of the game of basketball were created during the time she spent growing up on the family farm.
While in high school, her parents moved from Clarksville, TN, to Henrietta, TN, because the high school where they lived did not have a girls’ basketball team.
As a player, Summitt was an All-America selection at UT-Martin but didn’t have a scholarship, which were not yet required by Title IX.
She hired on as an assistant at Tennessee but the head coach soon quit and, at 22, her climb to the Summit began in an inch-by-inch way that is worthy of a full-length movie. She took over as head coach that same year after the head coach abruptly resigned.
“I don’t think anybody knows whether she will last a day, a month, or a year”, a source close to the situaion told the Knoxville News Sentinel. In a 2009 interview with TIME, Summitt said her teams didn’t give that much thought.
Summitt led Tennessee to the first NCAA women’s tournament in 1982, but lost to eventual champion Louisiana Tech in the Final Four. “Over the course of a year, from 2010 to 2011, I began to experience a troubling series of lapses”.
Tennessee claimed its first national title in 1987, beating Louisiana Tech in the title game.
It could never tarnish the shine of her eight national championship trophies. Tennessee would lose 77-58 to eventual national champion Baylor two days later.
Legendary women’s basketball coach Pat Summitt has died.
She reaches the century mark in her fourth season with a 79-66 victory over North Carolina State in Raleigh, North Carolina.
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The mark is surpassed only by the 10 titles won by UCLA men’s basketball coach John Wooden, and the 11 titles won by UConn women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma.
