Chick hoops.
That’s what sports departments I worked in called women’s basketball. Labels banter about safely in the presumed safety of like minds. Women’s athletics’ best chance at appreciation didn’t come through regard, admiration or respect.
More likely, it’d come from a news editor so enamored with tennis player Mary Pierce that he locked in every image the Associated Press moved on the wire of her.
The late Pat Summitt, the legendary University of Tennessee women’s basketball coach, couldn’t have cared less what close-minded editors thought of her. Or what they thought of her program or gender or sport or place in a game they considered a man’s.
[Don’t know Coach Pat? Watch this.]
Pat Summitt’s approach transcended basketball. All of it.
Pat died last month at age 64, having battled early onset dementia, Alzheimer’s type. I never had the honor of attending a post-game presser of hers. I tuned in many times to see Coach Pat’s latest rendition of wrecking ball basketball.
161 former players say goodbye
I crushed on more than one of her players.
Not the least of which: Michelle Marciniak, who gave a stirring eulogy for Coach Pat, in front of 161 former players. One hundred sixty-one. I’ve dreamed of my own funeral, hoping a handful of my former players would come by to send me off. Think about that.
One hundred sixty-one.
Michelle’s pretty. That’s barely 10% of it. She played with such incredible energy and determination, pretty wouldn’t matter. I wanted her to sign with the Denver Nuggets. This, before Elise ever stopped a goal, or Marie or Grace ever scored one.
Coach Pat’s lessons, to me:
1. Roll with dignity, make no apologies.
A fan base – or parent sideline – will feed off your intent, if you’re strong enough. Coach Pat’s team once crushed Stetson in the NCAA tournament by 65 points. Lady Vols fans remained classy throughout.
After the final buzzer, Coach Pat shook hands with Stetson coach Lynn Bria.
Lynn, who’d dreamed of playing for Pat’s program, kept all the personal letters she’d exchanged with her in hopes of becoming a recruit. Coach Pat always responded with handwritten notes.
After that historic blowout, Coach Pat shook Lynn’s hand, looked her in the eye, and praised her for her program.
2. Once your player, always your player.
Some kids – a lot of them – I coached now look down on me. Literally. They’ve grown, gone to college, left soccer for good or embraced it for life. I see them in Walmart or Target or maybe they’ll take my order at Bojangles and share with me their college plans.
They’re always my players, though. It’s an honor. Pat Summitt’s players reached the WNBA or corporate America or sidelines at other schools and carried the high standards and strength they learned from their coach. And Coach Pat always had her players’ backs.
Los Angeles Sparks coach Brian Agler told ESPN he could see Pat’s influence in her players.
“She challenged them to be great people and great players – and they have so much respect for her,” he said in this article.
3. ‘Lady’ is synonymous with Strong.
Pat Summitt taught me about coaching long before I ever coached. She won and influenced and changed a sport’s trajectory not by playing in the women’s game by men’s rules, but by galvanizing what it meant to compete as a woman.
It’s not even acceptance. It’s imposition.
It’s a fear in the back of men’s minds when they saw her squad demolish opponents and hone the game to an admirable luster: Hell, her team, with ponytails and women’s cut jerseys and Lady Vols scripted on the chest, could beat my school’s men’s team.
A lady can burst with beauty and in skill, in heart and in compassion. Olympians and MMA fighters and fierce moms carry that, too. Olympians and MMA fighters and fierce moms carry that, too.
Every girl who knocks a boy on his can on a soccer pitch or with a brush-back pitch on the diamond carries with her a bit of Coach Pat’s high standards.
Pat Summitt’s approach transcended basketball. Fearless – and sometimes fearful – female competitors who develop skills and retain pride in their femininity in all sports aren’t so uncommon anymore.
I love how her team retained the Lady Vols nickname way beyond times when political correctness rendered it antiquated.
Those were ladies who played for Coach Pat – ladies who could school you, but ladies, nonetheless. We coaches of girls can never forget that.
Regardless of who gets the headlines.
Just a dad ... 
I lived in east Tennessee for many years and I became of fan of the person she was, she was a strong leader/teacher. I pray she is resting in peace now.
I could see many people who lived around Knoxville developing an appreciation for the woman. Here’s to Pat, my friend.
Reblogged this on Truth Troubles: Why people hate the truths' of the real world.
Pat Summitt was one tough and amazing coach, Eli! Thanks for sharing her story and the life lessons. ~ヾ(＾∇＾)
She really was – I watched videos of her halftime talks. No nonsense, plenty of wisdom, stirring of the soul.
d=(´▽｀)=b
Pat Summitt was a strong female role model and one of the best basketball coaches in the history of the sport.
You summed it up perfectly, Tamara. Thanks for coming over!
Pat Summit was a class act and an amazing coach. One hundred and sixty-one former players at her funeral? That says it all.
Always dignified, that Pat. An incredible showing, for sure, but not a bit surprising, given the influence she had on so many young women’s lives.
I don’t follow women’s basketball, but I knew who Pat Summitt was and her death affected me, for some reason. I understand the Vols had asked her to coach the men’s team at one time, she was that good a coach. Alzheimer’s is a nasty way to go, too, especially for someone as young as she was (it’s amazing how one’s perspective changes on who’s young the older you get). She deserves a special place in heaven.
I think the loss of an influential leader is felt on many levels, John. I’m certain her Lady Vols could have beaten many men’s teams! It wouldn’t surprise me they wanted her for the men’s team.
If there’s intramural basketball in heaven, the league just got one heckuva coach.
I’m not a follower of basketball (either gender) but I knew of her too. She seemed excellent and remarkable in so many ways. It’s wonderful that she left such a mark on so many people. Not a lot of folks get to leave behind that kind of legacy.
It’s not surprising that Pat Summitt’s legend extended beyond basketball fans. Such a leader of young women, at a time before it was acceptable wholly for them to compete like the men did.
Her legacy lives on, not only in the women she led, but also coaches like me, who felt her influence.
Great lessons, Eli. #2 automatically thought of teaching… once your student, always your student. I never applied that to coaching, but I do know. I’m still called “Coach” to a few even though I was their coach 10 years ago. Pat’s legacy will live forever because of how she effected so many lives in such a positive manner. The world needs more coaches like her (we’ll do our best).
Thanks Eric. Some of Pat’s students became teachers while they were students. Coaching and teaching are really the same thing.
I love it when someone accidentally calls me their soccer teacher.
I had to note the battle she had to fight in newsrooms in an era when you’d think that wouldn’t be an issue any more.
HA! Their soccer teacher! Good for her for fighting the fight. There are many fights taking place that shouldn’t be happening here in the 21st century.
And there are some that will totally go on for all time.
Love that end quote!
It ought to be printed on the inner collar of every Colorado Rockies jersey, Tiff.
Oh, I like it!
My brother lived on the same street as Pat in her earlier years of coaching the Lady Vols and she was an amazing person off the court as well as on, but I’m sure that surprises no one.
I’m not a bit surprised, Deb. Being Pat’s neighbor had to be top five best compared to being her player.
“Women’s athletics’ best chance at appreciation didn’t come through regard, admiration or respect.” Oh, if only you lived in Connecticut. I’m not much of a college hoops fan, but this I know – other than despising Tennessee, we Nutmeggers are PROUD of our women Huskies, who can outplay and outclass the guys any day of the week (while lapping them academically, too). UConn and Tennessee may be rivals, but Pat Summitt and her Lady Vols definitely elevated the game. Great post.