Vols' Summitt Continues Historical Run Despite Diagnosis

Vols’ Summitt Continues Historical Run Despite Diagnosis

Last August Hall of Fame women’s basketball coach, Pat Summitt, was diagnosed with early onset of Alzheimer’s.

By TANNER CABBAGE

February 20, 2012

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee Lady Vols women’s head basketball coach Pat Summitt continued her run as the greatest basketball coach in history on Monday night when her team won in a dominating 91-54 performance over the nation’s seventh ranked team, Kentucky Wildcats. However this success did not fall in to her lap, it has been a long and challenging road for the storied coach to arrive at where she stands now.

Coach Summitt arrived at the University of Tennessee nearly four decades ago, beginning what would become a dynasty in the world of college basketball. No one knows the 4,700 square foot hardwood like Summitt does. In 38 seasons at the helm she has won an unthinkable 31 Southeastern Conference (SEC) championships, eight national titles, and 1,091 games, more than any coach in men or women’s college basketball history. However, it has not always been easy for the 59-year-old coach.

Summitt was raised in Clarksville, Tennessee with three older siblings and one younger. She played basketball at University of Tennessee at Martin however she had to pay her way through college unlike her older brothers who had received athletic scholarships. She arrived in Knoxville just before the 1974-75 season wanting to coach. At only 22 years of age she was given a position as a graduate assistant, earning $250 a month. After the head coach stepped down that season she was promoted to the same position. Coach Summitt was only a year older than some of her players. It was not a luxurious job by any stretch of the imagination. During a February 2009 interview with Time Magazine Summitt said, "I had to drive the van when I first started coaching. One time, for a road game, we actually slept in the other team's gym the night before. We had mats, we had our little sleeping bags.” Summitt continued to win games, however, while earning her masters degree as well. In the late 70’s Summitt and her team won the first SEC championship ever, which was truly the beginning of a dynasty.

Since that time, Pat Summitt has faced many challenges along the way. In 1980 she began a family, marrying her husband, R.B. Summitt. Ten years later she gave birth to her only child, Tyler. Tyler Summitt is a current walk-on for the University of Tennessee men’s basketball team. Although she was pregnant and then a mother Summitt continued to coach the Lady Vols. She won the NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship in 1991 and three straight SEC Championships from 1993-95. The challenges, however, did not stop coming. In 2007 Summitt settled a divorce with her husband. How did she respond? Naturally, she won the 2007 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship as well as SEC Coach of the Year for the seventh time.

Just when it appeared she had battled through it all, the toughest challenge of all was delivered. In August of 2011 Pat Summitt was diagnosed with an early onset of Alzheimer’s, a disease that will certainly leave her with no recollection of any of her incredible feats that she has accomplished. Doctors are unaware of how much longer she might have to coach. When asked, Pat Summitt said she hoped to be able to coach for at least three more seasons. Unfortunately, it has taken a sudden turn for the worse and appears this season may very well be the final season for her storied career. Her determination to keep fighting is a result of her love and passion for the game and the University of Tennessee.

Through this success and love for the game, Summitt has become a hero and an idol for many people involved with women’s college basketball or athletics for that matter. Many people that know her have looked up to Summitt’s dedication. Kim Mulkey, coach of the top ranked Baylor Bears, said in a December 2011 New York Times article, “When you all let us out of here, I’m going to go out and watch her team play, because you never know how many games she’s got left in her to coach. She means to the women’s game what John Wooden means to the men’s game,” Mulkey said of Summitt. “Her presence on that floor and what she means to all of us, I don’t think that anybody will ever have that presence.”

Pat Summitt has given so much to her players and university. She has brought home 18 Final Four appearances, an astonishing 0.843 winning percentage, and eight national championships. She is a seven time National Coach of the Year and appeared in every NCAA tournament since it began. In 2000 she was named the Naismith Coach of the Century and inducted in to the Women’s College Basketball Hall of Fame. Summitt has helped an eye-popping 72% of her players win awards or positions such as Olympians, All-Americans, USA National Team members, All-SEC performers, Academic All-Americans, etc. Most importantly, Pat Summitt has a remarkable 100% graduation rate. She has never coached a player that did not graduate from college and that is more important than any award or wins.

No one is sure how much longer Coach Summitt will be on the 94x50 foot hardwood floor that has defined her life. She herself does not even know. But on Sunday afternoon the Lady Vols will take the court in Knoxville for the last time this season, and quite possibly the last time that Coach Pat Summitt ever coaches another game. It is quite ironic that the players, fans, and university that she has taken care of for almost four decades is now taking care of her.

Bibliography

Araton, Harvey. "Summitt Still Inspires, Often in Silence." Summitt Still Inspires, Often

in Silence 12 Dec. 2011, New York ed., D4 sec. New York Times. 11 Dec. 2011.

Web. 19 Feb. 2012. <http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/12/sports/ncaabasketball/pat-summitt-wins-and-inspires-while-fighting-alzheimers.html>.

Brady, Erik. "Summitt Determined to Face down Alzheimer's Challenge." USA Today.

23 Aug. 2011. Web. 20 Feb. 2012.

<http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/womensbasketball/story/2011-08-23/Pat-Summitt-determined-to-face-down-Alzheimers-challenge/50114864/1>.

"Q&A: Tennessee Coach Pat Summitt." Interview by Sean Gregory. Time Magazine 2

Feb. 2009. Web. 18 Feb. 2012. <http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1876213,00.html>.