A legendary coach from the University of Tennessee, women’s basketball icon Pat Summitt peacefully passed away in Knoxville at a seniors home at the age of 64 after a lasting battle against dementia. Summitt announced to the public that she was diagnosed with Dementia around 2011 and ever since, she took the disease head on and to this point.
Summitt has shaped women’s basketball and men’s basketball for that matter and has inspired many around the world. Her 1,098 wins at Tennessee is the most wins for any coach in D1 for men’s and women’s.
Coach Geno Auriemma of the UConn’s women’s team, spoke about Summitt with words only few have been called.
“”We don’t have a long history in women’s basketball,” Auriemma said. “This history before Tennessee and before Pat Summitt is kind of checkered because there wasn’t a lot of media attention, there wasn’t a lot of interest in the game, there wasn’t a lot of support from universities. It’s a short history. During that short history there was one person for a long time. Nobody else was even in that category. … For the longest time, there was only Pat Summitt. Nobody else.” – courant.com
Summitt will be missed by Tennessee and the culture of basketball.
RIP Pat Summitt
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