Inside The Issue: Page 3B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Beacon Memories Page 4B . . . . . . Pat Summitt Announcement Page 5B . . . . . . . . . . . Growing Up Summitt Page 6B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Summitt Timeline Page 7B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Summitt Timeline Page 9B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Coaches recall Pat Page 10B . . . . . . . . . . NCAA Beacon Covers Page 11B . . . . . . Personal experience with Pat
2B • The Daily Beacon
Friday, April 27, 2012
Friday, April 27, 2012
PATSUMMITT
“I was walking out of my house after lunch with one eye on ESPN when the press conference started. Suddenly, I couldn’t move. I was literally frozen in time watching Pat fight back tears saying farewell. I remembered the first time I had met her as a sophomore in college, literally a lifetime ago. Now, today, it was over, just like that. I did what we all do at times like this and started reminiscing. I saw the genesis of her career at UT from a front-row seat and what a time it was. We used to sit together on the school charter plane and talk about her life and how much she had enjoyed playing in the Olympics (1976). I saw her as someone in her early 20’s, at the beginning of the most successful coaching career this side of John Wooden, and now, 35 years later, tears welled in my eyes, because what I was seeing on my small television set felt like a corkscrew through my heart. I didn’t need Pat saying farewell to remind me I was no longer a teenager, but it was perhaps, the most sobering shot of reality I’ve ever received. How could someone just a few years older than me, someone I have known my entire adult life, have to walk away from this career because of that? Then, suddenly, I woke up and quit feeling sorry for myself because time had marched on. I am still able to work every day with no health issues. My life is good. I got in my car and finished listening to the press conference, with tears running down my cheek and my heart breaking for Pat Summitt. I had a lot of company.”
— Paul Finebaum, Daily Beacon Sports Editor 1977-78 Host of the Paul Finebaum Radio Network
“A few years ago I came to Knoxville to do a column on Candace Parker. An interview time was set up at the basketball offices — first with Pat Summitt and then later with Candace. The late morning interview time came and went — and still no Pat. So I killed time in a meeting room, where I found an assortment of books autographed personally by the great Dan Jenkins. Dan is one of the greatest sportswriters of any generation. He also wrote a series of groundbreaking novels and he has an absolute soft spot for college football. His daughter is the gifted Washington Post columnist, Sally Jenkins, whom UT followers also know from her book with Pat. Anyway, Pat finally walks in and apologizes immediately for her tardiness. So, with a straight face, I say, ‘What would you do if one of your players showed up late for a meeting?’ She says, ‘Make ’em run the stairs, something like that.’ I say, ‘Well?’ There was a slight pause and then Pat roared with laughter. I think she loved the idea of someone busting her a little bit. Plus, it would have been a sports first. I’ve been covering sports for the better part of 30 years. There are few genuinely authentic people. And there are fewer genuinely authentic people who transcend their sport with grace, dignity and integrity. Pat Summitt is a country girl. She was a nobody who became a somebody. But she didn’t let her fame seep into who she was, where she came from, or how she conducted herself. Her coaching record speaks for itself. Those numbers shout from the top of the Thompson-Boling Arena. But I respect that grace under pressure, that competitiveness, that pride in all things UT and all things honest and pure. But most of all, I love that laugh.”
— Gene Wojciechowski, Daily Beacon Editor-in-Chief 1978-79 ESPN.com senior national columnist
“I guess I would have been 20 years old when I first started covering the Lady Vols for the Chattanooga newspaper. I say that because Coach Summitt treated me the same as a 20-year veteran of the business. I was learning on the job and she was so graceful and giving of her time to help me do that. That’s something I’ll always remember, illustrated by regular post-practice chat sessions with Pat and Dan Fleser, the News Sentinel’s excellent beat reporter and ultimate nice guy. A few years later, when I was covering the Braves, I saw where she had won her 900th game (she went on to win a lot more, obviously). I decided I would, like so many others, jot her a quick note of congratulations and tell her thanks for always being so kind to me. Imagine my surprise when, a couple of weeks later, I received a handwritten response — in the middle of her season, no less. I didn’t need that to tell me what sort of person Pat Summitt is, but it certainly affirmed it. My heart has ached to see her — and my alma mater — endure this. But I know Coach will use this unique platform for good, for awareness and to demonstrate the innate toughness that allowed her to become one of the most respected individuals in basketball history. I’m thankful, so thankful, that our paths crossed. I’m better for it. As Tennessee alums, we’re all better for having had Pat Summitt in our lives.”
— Travis Haney, Daily Beacon Sports Editor 2001-02 ESPN Insider’s national college football writer “Starting my senior year at Tennessee, I had the good fortune of being the Lady Vols’ beat writer for The Tennessean for two seasons. The first day I went to practice with that title, my predecessor Travis Haney (now with ESPN.com) suggested that I should tell Pat that I wanted to chat with her for a few minutes — not an interview, just a nice meet and greet. Right, Travis. The biggest name in the history of an entire sport wants a little rap session with a scrawny, nerdy kid of a sportswriter that had covered her team only a handful of times at that point. She did, it so happens, want to do exactly that. I covered the team daily alongside News-Sentinel legend Dan Fleser, but an outside observer would never know that he was the veteran on the beat and I was the newbie. She respected us equally — even if she didn’t always like what I wrote. I love my job at Bearden High School, and I can’t imagine my life without teaching. But if they were all as classy as Pat Summitt, I might still be a sportswriter today.”
— Tim Vacek, Daily Beacon Sports Editor 2002-03 Journalism and AP English teacher at Bearden High School
“There are few programs at any university, let alone Tennessee, which offer the same consistent success of Pat Summitt’s 38-year tenure with Lady Vols. Summitt’s record separates the coach from her peers, but it’s the manner in which she climbed to more than 1,000 career victories that more aptly defines the basketball icon. In my three years covering the Lady Vols for the Daily Beacon, I witnessed bits and pieces of how Summitt molded her players and her program with relentless expectations. She chastised her team for not being “passionate” about defense after winning an exhibition game — by 50 points — in 2010. She promised that her players would be on the floor running sprints after a 2011 Elite Eight loss to Notre Dame if UT would have allowed it. She let center Kelley Cain skip a road trip to Alabama to attend class in 2010. The coach’s wins and losses tell one story, but looking deeper into what made the coach tick proves what everyone already knows: There will never be another Pat Summitt.”
— Zac Ellis, Daily Beacon Editor-in-Chief 2010-11 SI.com associate producer
The Daily Beacon • 3B
“The only thing more impressive than Pat Summitt’s unbelievable coaching career in general is the generosity and kindness she showed in working with media on a daily basis, whether it was a reporter from the Beacon or the New York Times. She invited media to her home every year for the team’s NCAA tournament selection show viewing party, and she fed reporters — the food was always terrific, of course — and made them feel right at home while they were there. As great of a coach as she was, the thing I always will remember is the incredible lengths to which she went to promote the sport and be accessible to fans and media everywhere she went. She played a huge role in helping the sport of women’s basketball reach its current level of popularity, and that should be her enduring legacy as much as her eight national titles.”
— Ryan Callahan, Daily Beacon Sports Editor Aug. 2005-Dec. 2005 Senior writer for GVX247.com
“When getting to know athletes and coaches, you often find out they’re not who you expected them to be. After following the Lady Vols as a kid and in college, I expected the Pat Summitt behind the icy stare to be nothing but a tough disciplinarian, stoic and stern. Though discipline is incredibly important to her and the stare, her trademark, she is so much more than that. She’s warm and welcoming with a fantastic sense of humor. Though I was terrified as a young sports writer as I prepared to interview her for the first time, her sharp wit and friendly demeanor has made her one of the most approachable sports figures I’ve ever interacted with. Covering Summitt and her Lady Vols will forever be the assignment I’m most proud of as a journalist.”
— Beth Rucker, Daily Beacon News Editor 2002-03
Covered the Lady Vols for The Associated Press from 2008-12
4B • The Daily Beacon
PATSUMMITT
Friday, April 27, 2012
New role for Summitt as head coach emeritus Matt Dixon Sports Editor
Clay Seal Assistant Sports Editor
After 38 seasons as head coach, 16 SEC titles and eight national championships, Pat Summitt stepped down as Tennessee’s women’s basketball coach. Summitt became the head coach emeritus and longtime assistant Holly Warlick was named the Lady Volunteers’ head coach on April 18. “I can tell you I have loved my work at the University of Tennessee,” Summitt said. “It’s been awesome. I can say for almost four decades, it has been a privilege to make and impact on the lives of 161 women who have worn the orange. I’m so proud of them, the Lady Vol student-athletes. It’s an honor to see them graduate and become successful young women.” Summitt won 1,098 games, the most in NCAA men’s or women’s basketball history, during her UT career that began in 1974. Every player who completed her eligibility under Summitt graduated. She announced on Aug. 23, 2011 she had been diagnosed with early-onset dementia, Alzheimer’s type. During the 2011-12 season, her assistant coaches — Warlick, Mickie DeMoss and Dean Lockwood — took on a more active role with the team. “I see Pat in the same role as what she did this (past) year,” Warlick said of the future. “She’s going to be a great mentor for these y o u n g
women. She’s going to be there, she’s going to watch practice and be involved in on-campus recruiting, which is huge for us. She built this program — the tradition of the Lady Vols — and we’re going to use her in every way possible to help us continue that tradition.” Warlick was a three-time AllAmerican point guard at Tennessee under Summitt during her playing career (1976-80). She was named associated head coach in 2003. Despite replacing her mentor and “the game’s greatest coach,” according to UT athletic director Dave Hart, Warlick is ready for the opportunity. “It’s exciting to follow a legend,” Warlick said. “I’ve coached under a legend for 27 years. I love it. It’s a great challenge for me, and I can’t wait to get
started.” Tennessee is the only school to play in all 32 NCAA women’s tournaments. Summitt guided the Lady Vols to 18 trips to the Final Four, produced 12 Olympians and 21 All-Americans. She also coached the U.S. women’s basketball team to a gold metal in the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. “We have grown the game of women’s basketball each and every day along the way supported by the best fans in the country. No doubt,” Summitt said. “We have managed to win some ball games and hang championship banners in Thompson-Boling Arena. I made a choice early in my career to challenge myself to step up my game each and every day. You can be sure that I will take this same attitude into my new role as head coach emeritus and continue to teach our players the same commitment. I can promise you ladies, I ’ m
here for you. Trust me, that will happen. The success of the Lady Vols will always, always continue.” But her impact spreads across all women’s sports. “Title IX would not be what it is because she lived it,” Joan Cronan, UT’s women’s athletic director since 1983, told The Daily Beacon. “Some people preach it, but she lived it. She made Title IX happen. To me, Title IX means equal opportunity, and yes, we had equal opportunity, but where in America do they have 16,000 people average coming to a women’s college basketball game? She made Title IX work.” Hart summarized Tennessee fans’ feelings for the legendary and beloved coach. “She is an icon who does not view herself in that light, and her legacy is well-defined and everlasting,” he said. “Just like there will never be another John Wooden, there will never be another Pat Summit.”
Friday, April 27, 2012
PATSUMMITT
The Daily Beacon • 5B
Coaching Tyler Summitt’s ‘purpose in life’
Mike Rogers • The Daily Beacon
Pat Summitt smiles while still in the hospital after giving birth to son, Tyler, on Sept. 21, 1990. mind to get into the family business for a long time. Walking on for the Vols was simply a means to get a better insight into behind-the-scenes Assistant Sports Editor action in college basketball so that he could land As Pat Summitt sat at the press conference at a coaching gig like the one at Marquette. “There was no doubt in my mind he was going Thompson-Boling Arena on April 19 where she stepped down as Tennessee women’s basketball to get to that level,” said UT men’s basketball coach Cuonzo Martin. “He works extremely hard coach, evidence of her legacy was all around. Her eight national title banners were hanging at it. He understands the game. He’s studied the in the rafters, along with quite a few more denot- game ... but he’s a good guy and he puts the time ing Final Four appearances and SEC into it. Anytime a guy puts the time into it like he Championships. Her players were sitting in does he has a chance to be successful. “He lives in the house with one of the best matching orange and white warm-ups near the front row. The press conference was even hap- that’s ever coached the game, so some of it has to rub off on him.” pening on a court named after her. Some of it definitely rubbed off. But maybe Summitt’s biggest legacy was sitTyler coaches a U-17 AAU girls’ team, and at ting to her left: her son Tyler, who officially accepted an offer as an assistant coach for the a recent game where most of the team was takMarquette women’s basketball team the day ing their ACTs, Tyler only had five players to work with. One of before. them showed up late, “Wasn’t it interestthough, and per Tyler’s ing as I stepped aside rules, she couldn’t as head coach, my son start, leaving just four Tyler stepped into a players on the court at game as an assistant tip-off. with Marquette “The refs, the other women’s basketball?” coach and everybody Pat said. “I can tell in the stands were you I’m so proud of looking at me like I was Tyler.” crazy,” Tyler said. “But Tyler, a graduating something my mom 21-year-old, flew to always instilled in me Milwaukee the weekwas that discipline end before last to comes first. You set the interview for the spot, standards and you and got the offer from keep them there.” Golden Eagles coach He’ll certainly try to Terri Mitchell that keep the standards Monday before high as he heads off to accepting the offer. coach at Marquette, “I think she (Pat) keeping his mother was really proud of just a phone call away. me,” Tyler told The “As far as Marquette Daily Beacon. “She’s goes, I’m very excited always told me that I to start,” Tyler said. need to go away and prove myself and earn Robert Hess • The Daily Beacon “She’s got a few pointers for me and we’ll see everything I get.” Pat Summitt and son, Tyler, cut down what happens.” Tyler grew up in the net after the Lady Vols’ NCAA “I don’t know if I Pat’s shadow. That’s just the way it works Regional Final victory over Texas Tech on have any pointers for him,” Pat responded. when your mom is an March 27, 2000. “He studies the game American sports icon. Even though he had to endure chants like, all the time and I’m proud of him and wish him “Mamma’s boy!” from opposing fans in high the best.” After Tyler graduates in May, he’ll head off to school basketball games while playing at the Webb School of Knoxville, his determination to follow in his mom’s illustrious footsteps. “Tyler,” Dave Hart, UT athletic director, said, follow in her footsteps never wavered. “I’ve never really questioned God’s plan. I real- “all you’ve got to do is post 1,099 wins and you’ll ly feel like this is what I’m meant to do — this is blow past your mother.” Pat and Tyler laughed, high-fived each other my purpose in life,” Tyler said. “If that changes down the road, that’s fine, because part of coach- and held on for a few seconds longer. Many probably entered Thompson-Boling ing basketball is also about leadership and relathat day expecting something like a funeral. tionships…” Tyler played basketball as a walk-on at UT, but What they got, though, was more like a graduanot in the sense outsiders would typically expect tion ceremony. At least in this moment, it was (an undertalented player getting a bench spot obvious that one door closed just as another one because of his name). No, Tyler has had it in opened.
Clay Seal
6B • The Daily Beacon
Friday, April 27, 2012
Friday, April 27, 2012
The Daily Beacon • 7B
-“
Joins the Lady Vols as head coach
1984
April 2, 1989
Coach of the USA women’s Olympic basketball team (Gold)
Second NCAA Championship win over Auburn (76-70)
1974
March 29, 1987 First NCAA Championship win over Louisiana Tech (67-44)
September 21, 1990 Gives birth to Tyler Summitt
Named Naismith College Coach of the Year
Co-captain of the USA women’s Olympic basketball team (Silver)
1987
1976
PAT SUMMITT REFLECTION “
“
The best team doesn’t always win, but tonight the best team won the championship.
March 31, 1996 Fourth NCAA Championship win over Georgia (83-65)
February 5, 2009 1,000th win over Georgia (73-43)
— Pat Summitt
March 29, 1997
June 5, 1999
March 29, 1998
Fifth NCAA Championship win over Old Dominion (68-59)
Inducted into Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame inaurgural class
March 29, 1998
October 13, 2000
Sixth NCAA Championship win over Louisiana Tech (93-75)
December 5, 2011 Named Sports Illustrated Sportswoman of the Year
Inducted into Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame
Seventh NCAA Championship win over Rutgers (59-46)
April 3, 2007
Announces diagnosis of early-onset Dementia, Alzheimer’s type
August 23, 2011
Eighth NCAA Championship win over Stanford (64-48) Third NCAA Championship win over Virginia (70-67 OT)
March 31, 1991
April 8, 2008
Steps down as Lady Vols head coach
April 18, 2012
8B • The Daily Beacon
Friday, April 27, 2012
Friday, April 27, 2012
PATSUMMITT
The Daily Beacon • 9B
Summitt friend to Tennessee coaches Clay Seal Assistant Sports Editor
File Photo • The Volunteer Yearbook
File Photo • The Daily Beacon
When Ralph Weekly got the call that he and his wife, Karen, were the new softball co-head coaches at Tennessee, he was in Hawaii coaching the U.S. national team. Ten minutes later, he got another phone call. It was Pat Summitt. “I want to help you all I can,” Weekly recalled Summitt saying. “And she’s been there for us every minute.” Summitt talked about how she hopes to still have an impact on Lady Vols basketball players at a press conference last Thursday in which the reins were officially handed over to Holly Warlick. Summit’s impact, however, isn’t exclusive to just her own players. Weekly sat among numerous Tennessee coaches that day in Thompson-Boling Arena who would attest to that. “It actually choked me up a bit,” Weekly said. “She means so much to us.” Sure, Summitt was a role model for little girls who hoped to be a Lady Vol, only dreaming of being on the receiving end of The Stare. But it was common for coaches everywhere, even ones on the other bench, to have outspoken respect for the legend. “My colleagues across the country in softball worship her,” Weekly said. “When we came to Tennessee, it was like, gosh, we get to coach in the same department as Pat Summitt does.” This coming from a legend in his own right. Weekly’s been in the coaching game a while too. He won his 1,000th career game last spring and is in his 25th year as a head coach. He and his wife have been at Tennessee since 2002, taking the softball program to new heights, including four Women’s College World Series appearances since 2005. But still, no matter how much anyone can stack
on his or her resume, they seem to always look up to Summitt. “The word bittersweet I am sure is across all of athletics because she transcends,” UT football coach Derek Dooley said. “She is not just women’s basketball. She is an icon for any sport. I think celebrating the success she had is there. I called her (the day she announced she was stepping down) and told her how happy I was that she was still with us and that she didn’t step down completely. She is just an amazing person and her impact will last forever. Not just on the people that she coached but all the people in athletics as a whole.” Former Lady Vols soccer coach Angela Kelly, who took the program to nine NCAA Tournaments and five Sweet 16 appearances in 12 seasons, always made a point to get to her office in Thompson-Boling before Summitt and leave after. Men’s basketball coach Cuonzo Martin, who was hired by UT in March 2011, had already developed a good relationship with Summitt, as many men’s coaches before him had done. “She means a lot,” Martin said. “Just how she approaches it. You see all the wins, the success, the championships, but also the players she’s graduated over time. The success rate, the things her program has done on and off the court. “It’s more than just putting the ball in the basket for Pat.” Former Lady Vols tennis coach Mary Ellis Richardson remembered Summitt reaching out to her as she’s been known to do. “During my tenure as head women’s tennis coach from the late ’70s to early ’80s, I’ll always remember being invited to a basketball practice and watching her ability, even back then, to teach mental toughness as well as solid basketball skills,” Richardson said. “Her commitment to developing excellence in her players helped promote not only women’s basketball but other women’s sports and ultimately women in general.”
PATSUMMITT
10B• The Daily Beacon
Friday, April 27, 2012
‘Cover’-ing the championships 1991
1987
1989
1996
1997
2007
1998
2008
Friday, April 27, 2012
The Daily Beacon • 11B
PATSUMMITT
Summitt still leaves me speechless Preston Peeden Managing Editor
Adam Brimer • The Daily Beacon
Adam Brimer • The Daily Beacon
Adam Brimer • The Daily Beacon
The first time I met Pat Summitt face-to-face, I nearly peed myself. It was the summer before my senior year of high school, and I had just finished my first day of work as a counselor at the Pat Head Summitt Basketball Camps. To be honest, I’m not a good basketball player and I doubt I was a qualified choice as a counselor at the camp. Luckily for myself and those in attendance, the only physical activities my job consisted of were opening the gyms, sweeping the floors, filling the water buckets and keeping track of the clock. After working nine hours at Pratt Pavillion, Tyler Summitt, myself and another friend of ours jumped into his car to drive back to his home. Once we got there and saw our other friends going towards the kitchen, we ran in to grab some food. After spreading out an assortment of snacks and effectively dirtying up what was once a spotless counter, Coach Summitt walked into the room. None of us knew she was home, and in our hunger-induced daze we didn’t notice her car parked outside. Tyler jumped up immediately and gave his mother a hug, and our other friends waved genially and greeted her with, “Hey Coach, how are you today?” She responded with the same type of enthusiasm, and then it was my time to speak. The second she had entered the room, my mind began racing around for what I should do and say. And with her attention turned completely on me, I froze. First I mumbled something incoherent; and then from sheer fright I grabbed a dish from the sink, started scrubbing it and then with my voice’s strength dropping with every word to the point that the last one was nothing more than a mere whisper, I said, “Hey Mrs. Summitt, nice to meet you.” She probably didn’t hear what I said completely, I doubt anyone could have. But she looked at me, smiled, said hello and then walked outside to see her two golden retrievers. Without even saying a word, Pat Summitt had reduced me to a scared, speechless child, something that anyone who knows me would find hard to believe. None of this is meant as an insult to coach Summitt, but rather from the very beginning it impressed upon me the awe that she can inspire in everyone. Pat, at every stage of her career, has
proven time and again to be larger than life, and there in her kitchen, she proved to the 17-year-old version of me that she commanded respect. Even without meaning to. Over the past three years, I have gone to the Summitt home, eaten dinner at her table, slept in one of the guest beds and walked her dogs, and at every moment, she has been one of the kindest people I have ever met. Her on-court stare is legendary, but her off-the-court demeanor is disarming. In person, she is almost the opposite of the visage her scowl can create. She’s warm, kind, a doting mother, a funny storyteller and an incredible cook. But at every meeting I have ever had with her, I’ve felt that exact same awe that overtook me four years earlier. Pat Summitt gave 38 years to this university and its women’s basketball program. She came here as a graduate student from Tennessee-Martin, and after years of service she is stepping down as not only the all-time winningest coach in NCAA history, but also as a figure who will forever be revered at this school, this region and in the lives of every person she touched. Her final season was conducted the same as the previous 37. She scowled, she glared, she yelled and the end result was mostly the same — she won a lot of games. Her final game will go down as a loss to Baylor, but that does nothing to change the 1,305game legacy that predated it. She is the greatest coach this program has ever had, and she is the greatest coach this school has ever had (sorry to all Gen. Neyland lovers). But she is also more than that; she is a symbol for what is right in college basketball. Every player who completed her eligibility under Summitt graduated. Her players and her demeanor backed up the dying idea of a true student-athlete, and for that I will always remember, respect and root for Pat Summitt. With her stepping down due to health reasons, I am conflicted on what emotions to feel. At first I am sad, as I am sure everyone else is; her illness is a tragedy. It’s one of those things that was an unexplainable turn in the road. But honestly, all I feel right now is happiness. I want to celebrate what she is and what she has done, and I think we all should take a minute to bask in the awe that is Pat Summitt. In the coming years, thousands of words will be crafted to try to describe who she is and what she has meant to this community and this school. In that future, however, I hope I can be better prepared than I was at that first meeting, and maybe, if I am lucky, get a coherent word or two out. — Preston Peeden is a junior in history. He can be reached at ppeeden@utk.edu.
12B • The Daily Beacon
Friday, April 27, 2012