http://www.npr.org/2016/06/28/483819314/legendary-tennessee-basketball-coach-pat-summitt-dies-at-64

death & taxes

It's sad, but it irks the shit out of me when we act like this is more tragic because it involves a "celebrity".

She's done more then most people.

Locally,  evidently nothing else happened in the world that is newsworthy today.

Nothing but interviews and history about her continuously.

Ridiculous.

Allow me to point out a couple of things about Pat Head Summitt.

She was hired as a grad assistant & had the head coaching job thrust upon her when the head coach suddenly resigned. She was ONE year older than the senior players.

Women's sports back then wasn't what it is now, they weren't in the NCAA, they were in the NAIW (IIRC). IOW, NO money what so ever. Pat washed the team's uniforms herself, no trainer nor manager to do it.

When she began, LA Tech, USC & others were the Big Girls of women's basketball. Most SEC schools didn't even field a women's team at all. Pat played any team, any where, at any time. She knew the only way to get to the upper tier was to play the top tier teams & she did. At first, she got her hat handed to her due to her having lesser talent. She slowly but steadily closed the gap & began to have those teams come to Knoxville to play. She knew UT fans only want one thing: a winner. She game them what the football team & the men's basketball team failed to deliver: a champion. As a result, UT led the country in attendance for decades, until UConn overtook UT.

Pat promoted women's basketball at every opportunity. Decades before Title IX came about, she shamed AD's & chancellor's into providing opportunities & funding to women's basketball. She NEVER sued to get her way or even threatened to. She simply asked all those male AD's what THEY would do if it were their DAUGHTER wanting to play for a team/school that treated women athletes as second class (or worse) citizens. Slowly but steadily, the SEC schools came around when they saw how many fans would come to games to see a winner.

The very first game involving a sell-out was UT-Vandy, when Vandy was #1 & UT was #2. Vandy sold general admission tickets only & first come, first served on the seats. Something like 2,000 people who had tickets were unable to enter due to the fire marshal closing the doors. The guy singing the National Anthem (Vince Gill? Lee Greenwood?) couldn't get in until a Metro cop got him escorted in. True story. UT won that game, BTW.

Pat later befriended both Bobby Knight & John Wooden. Both admired her coaching style & ability. Anyone who knows Bobby Knight knows he's no fan of women's basketball, but he took a liking to Pat.

Unlike a lot (most) teams, she didn't schedule Little Sisters of the Poor. She played Texas, Virginia, Rutgers, USC, etc. on a regular basis before the SEC schedule began. She played UConn right smack in the middle of the SEC schedule for years until she caught Aurienma (sp?) playing loose with the NCAA rules & she dropped them. Many men claimed the UT/UConn was the only women's game they would watch all year.

Pat NEVER, not ONCE had a NCAA rule violation tacked to her. Not ONCE. How many coaches can make that claim?  

She stayed after the games at Vandy, signing autographs & posing for pictures. She never became arrogant or condescending to fans. I had the pleasure of meeting her 4-5 times & she was always a class act.

All one has to do is listen to the other UT coaches speak about her & how she helped THEM in their sports. She spoke to the football team before a big game. She went to the NCAA World Series when the women's softball team made it there. She helped Bruce Pearl transition from a GD yankee to become one of UT's most loved coaches in any sport.

So to those whom claim she was a "celebrity", yes, she was. But she was a helluva whole lot more than that. She will never be duplicated.

Well put.

Everything I have read about her indicated that she was an amazing individual.

Winningest coach of all time, surpassing NFL,.MLB, NBA, NCAA...1098 wins.......

1977 our men's dorm team used to play against her team in the Clement Hall courtyard.......she instilled  practice , practice, practice at all times in her team, and the best practice was against a better opponent. They were good.

Alzheimer's is a vicious disease.


RIP Pat

dang kinda scary

means death can get to anyone anyplace anytime. a 59 yo fit woman who played sports all her life, you;d think she make it further

Perhaps my biggest regret is not meeting her when I used to spend a lot of time on campus.

She contributed more than she took. Champion in every way. Wish we had more like her...the world would be a better place.

Man, seems like she was just coaching yesterday. RIP, Coach.

Only 64 and died of Alzheimer's?

I wonder if she had a history of head injuries from her time as a player?

I go the the Egg & I in Bearden about 2-3 times a month.  I'll meet with clients and co-workers there for breakfast and depending on workload/active clients, some months I go there more, some less.  Pat liked to go there and sometime last year, before she went off to the assisted living facility I was there with my daughter (10 years old at the time) on a weekday she was out of school.  I can't remember why but we wound up there in the morning.  It was the only time I took her there and she was wearing a UT shirt.  Pat came in along with someone who was helping her.  As she walked to the back to her usual spot she saw my daughter, saw her shirt and stopped and talked to her for a minute or two.  No prompting on my part, just Pat being Pat.  She asked her about school, sports and life.  When my daughter said she played softball, Pat immediately gave praise to the UT softball coaches and said "you'll be in good hands with them.  And you look good in orange, let's keep it that way" and smiled and walked to her table.

Her impact on the community has been huge and she deserved every second of air time she got today in the local news.  And once you have a daughter who loves sports, you'll understand why.

Thank you.

this

She wasn't famous for being famous. She was the definition of what being a good person means. The world lost the kind of person you want your children I idolize and grow up to be. Every student that played for her earned their degree.

Quote from Peyton Manning, who nails it

"The word icon and the word legend is probably used too much in today's sports society," Manning said. "But it is certainly appropriate when describing Pat Summitt. That's what she was."

Great coach.

Connecticut salutes her.

Unfortunately, her son is isn't following in her footsteps.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/04/08/pat-summit-s-son-quits-as-women-s-basketball-coach-after-affair-with-player.html

.



Never heard of him.

Yep, local news has tied everything, including tonight's sunset, to Summit's death.

If she was a celebrity, well, then she earned it.

RIP

Very much a loss though I typically despise anything attached to Tennessee.

Sounds like she worked her ass off.

Props to her.

I saw a couple of games she coached on ESPN,one them was for most wins from a basketball coach, she definitely had a lot of class. R.I.P. Coach Pat Summit.
 

I've been staying away from this thread because I just knew it would be filled with the kind of dipshit comments like glk38 and him said earlier.  Instead, and thankfully, we get a little respect from BobCole and tnburban.

Summit was a celebrity, but she earned the hell out of it.  She was every bit the role model celebrities aspire to be, but rarely are.  She worked with countless organizations and gave back much more than she got.  She lived the life most of us are either proud to emulate or ridicule due to envy.

I got to see her office when they remodeled the basketball rooms at UT.  While the men's coach (they were going through a transition) was lavish, hers was about half the size and Spartan.  She did have a personal shower in the room, but it was filled with signed basketballs up to about 5ft.  I met her once in the old gym.  Just me and her at the time.  We got to talking about where we were from, and I told her I had some friends in Jackson.  This living legend who had done so much was devoting her attention to me, asking if I knew so-and-so, and not once did she draw attention to herself during our conversation.  It was strange to me because I hated talking about myself.  

I'm sure it's cool and edgy folks like glk38 and him can go on GD and be negative, but they need to realize that this was not just some asshole who got famous.  This person is worth the respect that she's been getting, and if you can't give the people of Tennessee and elsewhere a day or two to process this loss, you should just stay the hell away.

This video will tell you all you need to know about her

As a fan of another SEC team, I can tell you that Pat Summitt was one of the best SEC coaches of any sports.

She's up there with the Bear. Hell, she is the Bear Bryant of women's basketball.

She is someone you should want your daughters to idolize. She gave all she had her entire career and was humble till the day she died.

And as someone who lost their grandmother to Alzheimer's, I can tell you it's an ugly way to go, and I'm glad she's at peace now.

Pat Summitt was iconic and legendary, I'd be surprised if they don't name some kind of award or merit in her name for all she did in women's collegiate basketball.
 

We didn't live far from Pat back around '98 or so. Our Twin sons played with her son Tyler numerous times. She was a very nice woman. Never thought she was above the little guy. Would talk to you like she was a acquaintance you met at the grocery store.

One thing I forgot to add about her legacy. She graduated 100% of her players whom stayed for four years (not transferred). 100%. No other coach or college has done that, but she did.  

Doesn't Geno Auriemma have a similar record?

(it's "......... of her players who stayed .........")