Pat Summitt (1952-2016)
June 28, 2016
This morning, June 28, legendary women’s basketball coach Pat Summitt died at age 64. Summitt coached the University of Tennessee Lady Vols from 1974 to 2012, leading them to eight National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championships. She ended her career with more wins (1,098) than any other coach in NCAA Division I history. Summitt stepped down as head coach at Tennessee in 2012 after being diagnosed with early onset dementia, Alzheimer’s type.
Legendary Tennessee head coach Pat Summit, seen here with the Southeastern Conference tournament championship trophy in 2012, died of early onset dementia on June 28, 2016.
Credit: © AP Images
Patricia Sue Head was born in Henrietta, Tennessee, on June 14, 1952. She married R. B. Summitt, a bank executive, in 1980. She starred in basketball while attending the University of Tennessee at Martin. She graduated in 1974 with a B.S. degree in physical education. She received an M.S. degree in physical education in 1975 from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.
Summitt was co-captain of the United States women’s basketball team that won the silver medal at the 1976 Summer Olympic Games and coached the U.S. team that won gold at the 1984 Olympics. In 2000, she was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and was honored as the Naismith Coach of the 20th Century in women’s basketball.
In March 2005, Summitt won her 880th game as a head coach, breaking the NCAA record held by Dean Smith of the University of North Carolina. In February 2009, Summitt became the first NCAA coach to win 1,000 games. Named the NCAA coach of the year seven times, Summitt led the Lady Vols to 16 Southeastern Conference tournament titles and 22 Final Fours. Her University of Tennessee teams won NCAA titles in 1987, 1989, 1991, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2007, and 2008. In 2012, U.S. President Barack Obama presented Summitt with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, one of the country’s highest civilian honors.
