Long before Claudia and I were together, she had been a graduate assistant basketball coach for Pat at Tennessee. For a time she had been her roommate but more importantly she had been and remained her friend throughout the intervening years.
Thanks to Claudia, I was fortunate enough to have gotten to meet and spend a bit of time with Pat Head Summitt.
I am always inspired when I meet strong and accomplished women. There was no one who fit that description any better than Pat. She was a change agent for the game of basketball and for women. She was bright and driven; an unbeatable combination when focused. Pat was one focused woman.
The early 70s Title IX legislation opened the door wide enough for a determined female coach to drive a winning team through it. Pat was that coach.
She was Pat Head and only 22 when she got the job as head coach of the women’s basketball team at the University of Tennessee. She had never coached before, and by her own admission she didn’t know what she was doing, but she was an Olympic-caliber player herself. Her basketball instincts were sound and she knew and cared about the girls who wanted to play the game.
Her gift was bringing out the best in her players and then putting those players together to make the whole much greater than the sum of its parts. Early in her career, many women’s high school teams were still playing 6-player split court basketball. Pat understood the strengths and gaps that caused and, as the consummate teacher, she played to the strengths of her girls. She never stopped teaching; the result was gifted players and teams.
She inspired her players to achieve beyond their expectations but not beyond hers. She expected the very best and she usually got it. Proof of that was her 100% college graduation rate for her players. It just doesn’t get any better than that.
Pat pretty much brought women’s basketball into its heyday. She made it a premiere sport at Tennessee and gave other universities a view into what was possible for their programs. In the early days, women’s basketball was an also-ran sport. The women usually played their game just before the headliner of the evening, the men’s game. That’s just the way it was.
As women’s sports became an equality requirement for university programs the changes included scheduling and facilities and funding. Her Olympic success established her credibility and enticed those who were being recruited to Tennessee to commit to their program.
Pat’s pitch to stand-out players on high school teams was that they could go somewhere else and be a showboat or they could come to Tennessee and be on one. Her success made the sale and she attracted many of the best and brightest.
Pat’s focus and intensity were the stuff of legend. What might not be so well known is the creativity she employed to be the best. She had her teams play against men’s practice teams; she consulted with many of the NBA coaches on techniques and plays. She never closed herself off to new ways to play the game. She never stopped trying to be the best she could be.
I met Pat in Austin when the Lady Vols were there to play the Lady Longhorns. It was the early 90s and the team was relaxing at the hotel before the game. You could tell Pat was cordial but focused on her role. Her young son, Tyler, was in tow and had about 10 or so college girls happily babysitting him while Pat visited with Claudia.
Ten years or so later, she and her coaches came to the house for dinner when the Lady Vols played the Lady Bulldogs in Starkville. This time she was much more relaxed and gregarious. It was a comfortable and companionable evening.
Pat positively influenced far beyond her immediate sphere of contacts. Like the butterfly effect, those she touched touched others and so it goes on and on and on.
Pat’s final legacy will be her battle with Alzheimer’s. We have no cure and no treatment and sadly, no matter her stamina and intensity, Pat had no chance with this battle.
Her last gift to us was her foundation dedicated to fighting Alzheimer’s in her inevitable absence. Pat is still paying it forward and inspiring us to do the same.
Lynn Spruill, a former commercial airline pilot, elected official and city administrator owns and manages Spruill Property Management in Starkville. Her email address is [email protected].
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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