Just received an email bulletin from the Washington Post, which offers this obituary.
Here are a few key things to know from her magnificent career:
She became head coach of the Lady Vols at age 22 and coached for 38 years, during which time she became the first NCAA coach, male or female, with 1,000 victories.
She accumulated staggering statistical accomplishments while coaching at Tennessee. Her teams made 31 NCAA tournament appearances, appearing in the tourney every season she coached after 1982. Her record in the NCAA tournament was 135-23, and Tennessee reached the Final Four 18 times.
Ms. Summitt coached 20 All-Americans and 12 Olympians at Tennessee. Her eight national championships are the third-most in NCAA basketball history, behind only the 11 of Geno Auriemma, coach of the University of Connecticut women’s team, and the late John Wooden’s 10 as coach of the UCLA men’s team.
And for all her achievements as a coach, and as a player (on the 1976 Silver Medal Woman’s Basketball team despite having suffered a serious injury previously) there is this:
Ms. Summitt, who never missed a day of school while growing up in rural Tennessee, required that all of her athletes sit in the first three rows of their classes. She did not allow a single unexcused absence.
As a result, every one of the more than 100 players who completed their athletic eligibility at the university received a degree.
Read that again — every single one of the more than 100 players who completed their athletic eligibility at the university received a degree. I will tell you that is not the pattern of championship winning coaches on the men’s side.
Read the entire obituary.
Whether or not you were a fan of her Lady Vols (I was not), recognize her magnificent achievements both as a coach and as a molder of the women who played for her.
She is clearly an example of how Title IX has benefited our female athletes. I write this as one who has coached women’s soccer, and who taught at a high school that won 5 consecutive championships for girls basketball.
She died of the effects of early onset Alzheimer’s. She did have a chance to say goodbye to her sport, her school, her teams and former players, and to receive the recognition for which she was so deserving.
RIP.