Pat Summitt, who pioneered the advance of womens’ college basketball. died this week at the age of 64. She had suffered from dementia and alzheimersfor the last five years.
Summitt coached Tennessee to eight national championships and had 1,098 wins on her record but when she began the NCAA hadn’t yet sanctioned womens’ basketball.
“She had to wash her players’ uniforms,” observed President Obama.
“She would have been a successful mens or womens coach in any sport,” said Payton Manning, the star quarterback at Tennessee who went on to his outstanding NFL career. “She was that good.”
Summitt, who retired from coaching in 2012, had a son, Tyler, who is also a coach.
Reader Comments(0)