Pat Summitt, legendary women's basketball coach, dies at 64

In her 38 years at Tennessee, Summitt won eight national titles and 1,098 games -- the most by any Division 1 basketball coach, male or female. Her teams made an unprecedented 31 consecutive appearances in the NCAA Tournament.
Beyond the wins and the statistics, Summitt had a profound impact on women's college athletics.
When she became head coach of the Lady Vols in 1974 at the age of 22 -- barely older than some of her players -- the NCAA did not even formally recognize women's basketball. Summitt had to drive the team van to road games herself.

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Celebrity said:

Anyone who has ever played basketball or visited the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, MA knows that this is an American sport. Summitt is an American hero for her work in collegiate athletics and by her record, she is a legend.

Pat Summitt, legendary women's basketball coach, dies at 64 - CNN.com

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JasperL said:

Thanks for posting that. She's a local hero, and we were all privileged to get to see a living legend over the past few decades.

There's a lot I'll remember, but one that will last is watching her in games. The team could be up by 40, 5 minutes left, and if any player dogged it on a play, got lazy on defense, or started showboating or doing something remotely unsportsmanlike, she'd just explode off her seat or out of her crouch on the sidelines, scream for a timeout, then almost literally drag the player off the court. Sometimes she'd get so mad that she'd keep walking back to where she was sitting to lecture some more. Over and over.

Anyway, what you could always know is her teams always, always played hard, the players stayed out of trouble, and literally 100% of her players who stayed for 4 years over all those decades graduated.

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