Very sad news. One of the all-time greats in all of sports.
She was also an excellent public speaker. I heard her one year when she participated in Bill Hybels leadership summit at Willow Creek.
Prayers from this Crimson Tide fan. Summit is a class act & is truly a legend in Basketball.
Prayers for her.
MoreKNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Pat Summitt’s family said Sunday that the last few days have been difficult for the former Tennessee women’s basketball coach as her Alzheimer’s disease progresses.
Amid reports of Summitt’s failing health, 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. It also asked for privacy.
Patricia Sue Summitt (born June 14, 1952) is an American former women's college basketball head coach. She now serves as the head coach emeritus of the University of Tennessee Lady Vols basketball team. She coached from 1974 to 2012, all with the Lady Vols, winning eight NCAA championships (an NCAA women's record when she retired), and surpassed only by the 10 titles won by UCLA coach John Wooden and the 11 titles won by UConn coach Geno Auriemma. She was the first NCAA coach, and one of four college coaches overall, to achieve at least 1,000 wins (she achieved 1,098). She has the most wins of any female basketball coach in NCAA or NAIA history.
Summitt was named the Naismith Basketball Coach of the Century in April 2000. In 2009, the Sporting News placed her at number 11 on its list of the 50 Greatest Coaches of All Time in all sports; she was the only woman on the list. In 38 years as a coach, she never had a losing season. In 2012, Pat Summitt was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama. She received the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the 2012 ESPY Awards.