Pat Summitt: The Coach Who Refused to Lose

This is Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories, the show where America is the star and the American people, coming to you from the city where the West begins: Fort Worth, Texas. Pat Summitt was a legendary women’s basketball coach at the University of Tennessee and the winningest coach in NCAA history, known for her unparalleled success, fierce dedication to her players, eight national championships, and for revolutionizing women’s sports. Here to tell the story is Greg Hengler. Let’s take a listen.

Do you deserve it? So go get it! That’s what you gotta think. You’ve got to go get it. You gotta earn it. I don’t respect you. I don’t think you can play you out there.

You’ve got to show. So far, Pans, I don’t know about jumping.

I want to win a nasal gap.

Tennessee has loved national championship. The title of those to Knoxville again.

Tennessee has one of the national championship, but they’ve got it. Back-to-back championship, the first team ever to go thirty-nine and.

Then you say back to ban, the Lady Balls at one championship number eight.

In ’08, Pat took the game to the highest level that it’s ever been. And you know what? At the end, they’re gonna forget the wins. They’re gonna forget the losses. They’re gonna forget how many championships you want. They’re not gonna remember conference titles. None of that’s gonna stick. What’s gonna stick is when they say “women’s basketball,” “Pat Summitt.” Those two things will never be sep.

That was Geno Auriemma, coach of the University of Connecticut Huskies. They had one of the most competitive relationships in women’s college basketball. Here’s Mike Krzyzewski, the head coach of Duke, talking about Coach Pat.

One of the great coaches of any sport, you know, let alone basketball, it was Pat Summitt. I can remember early in my career, Sam Newton, one of the great guys in men’s college basketball, wanted to hire her to be a men’s coach and said, “Look, you should go to one of her practices. She knows how to coach.” And she really put women’s basketball out there—in other words, what she did with recruiting, accomplishment, championships. It started from there. And obviously, you know, today, you know, Geno’s done an unbelievable job at Connecticut, but that would not have been without Pat.

Pat Summitt worked as a grad assistant for the UT Lady Vols, but the head coach unexpectedly stepped down, and Pat became the head coach from 1974 to 2012. Here’s Marsha Sharp, former head coach of the University of Texas Tech.

I don’t suppose that there are really the right words to talk about her legacy or what she meant to women’s basketball. When you get a job when you’re a grad assistant and turn it into something like she did, it’s the most remarkable story in sports in so many ways, and particularly for women in sports. At that time, Title IX had just become law, and it was kind of a perfect storm when she came along and started that program.

Pat Summitt was born on June 14th, 1952, in Clarksville, Tennessee.

We had a dairy farm. I just remember milking cows 5 a.m. and 5 a.m.

I don’t think my grandfather knew what to do with my mom. He just assumed, ‘Hey, I can just treat her like the boys.’

Way were strict down.

Of course, he was more stricter than I was.

You know it; Jinily goes that way.

My father, he was the one that probably inspired me the most, toms. He challenged me and said, ‘I don’t know if you’ll ever be able to do this,’ and, of course, that’s all I needed to hear.

I don’t think that she planned to be a pioneer, but I think that she was comfortable being the pioneer.

Coach Summitt began her coaching career before women’s basketball was an NCAA-sanctioned sport and just two years after Title IX came into play, the legislation that created more athletic opportunities for women. Her personal basketball career was played from 1970 to 1974 at the University of Tennessee at Martin. Pat Summitt then played in the Olympic Games in 1976, co-captain of the United States women’s national basketball team as a player in the inaugural Women’s Tournament, winning the silver medal. She then returned to the Olympics in 1984 as a head coach and led the U.S. women’s team to the gold medal. She was the first in U.S. Olympic basketball history to play on and coach medal-winning teams.

I remember the first loss, probably more than the first win. And we played Mercer University. They were good, and I knew after the game that I had—I just didn’t do a good job, you know.

And I was young, and I just wasn’t experienced enough or confident enough, probably. And I remember calling home and my mother answered the phone, and we were chitchatting. And she goes, ‘Trish, how you doing?’ I go, ‘Doing great, Mom.’ Never imagined me about the game, probably didn’t even know we were playing, or she did, probably just forgot about it because she never was into sports. And I said, ‘His dad there?’ And she said, ‘Yes.’ And I said, ‘It is okay. I talked to him.’ And because he didn’t like talking on the phone much, and she said, ‘Yes.’ So she handed him to the phone, and I’ve never heard him say hello. He said, ‘All right.’

I was so nervous because I knew, you know, he knows how competitive we all are, and he was competitive. And I said, ‘Hey, Dad,’ and he goes, ‘Join?’ And I said, ‘No, sir, we lost.’ Long pause. And I didn’t know what he was going to say, other than, ‘You need to get out of coaching.’ But he said, ‘So you lost?’ I said, ‘Yes, sir.’ He said, ‘Let me tell you one thing: You don’t take donkeys to the Kentucky Derby. You better get you some racehorses.’ And he hung up.

It’s not about me. I’ve never scored a basket for the University of Tennessee, you know, and I’m starting my thirty-sixth year. It’s all about the people you surround yourself with and what they bring to the court, to the game, and to understanding that it is a team concept and they have to do it together.

And you’ve been listening to the story of Pat Summitt, a revolutionary figure not just in women’s sports, but sports in general. When we come back, more of the life of Pat Summitt. This is Our American Stories. This is Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories. And all of our history stories are brought to us by our generous sponsors, including Hillsdale College, where students go to learn all the things that are beautiful in life and all the things that matter in life. If you can’t get to Hillsdale, Hillsdale will come to you with their free and terrific online courses. Go to Hillsdale.edu. That’s Hillsdale.edu. And we continue with Our American Stories. What a story we’ve been listening to! Pat Summitt, we learned in the last segment, was the first person in women’s sports to both coach and play on medal-winning teams. Let’s pick up now when we last left off. Here again is Greg Hengler.

Before Coach Summitt had her son, Tyler, in 1990, she endured six miscarriages.

I think the one achievement in my life that means the most to me is the birth of my son, Tyler. He’s just a gift from God, and he’s just been so special in so many ways, because as much as I’ve taught him, I think he’s probably taught me even more.

All the things I hear about my mom, you know, all the championships, the wins, you know, all the Olympic players, and all the players who for her and her now coaches—you know, things like that—everything she’s done. And then for her to say that, you know, that about me, it’s just, it makes me feel so special. People have heard the story when I got cut, you know, my sixth-grade year, and, you know, it was, I was heartbroken. And, you know, I think maybe part of me thought that because I was her son, I might make it, you know, just, just solely on that, and I didn’t work as hard as I could have.

I walk in the room and I said, ‘Tyler, what’s wrong with you?’ And he goes, ‘I got cut.’ Well, my first thought is, what coach in East Tennessee would cut my son? I mean, think about it, you know, put him at the end of the bench, but give him a uniform. And then I guess the coach came out in me, and I looked at Tyler and I said—he was had a basketball under each arm. He was crying so.

Hard, and she goes, ‘Well, do you think he worked hard enough?’ And I knew I didn’t. I said, ‘No.’ And she said, ‘Well, now you know it’s you gotta do.’ And I was like, you know, I wanted her because I knew she knew everything about basketball.

And he goes, ‘Mom, will you help me?’ I said, ‘Son, I will help you, but I will not start your engine. You must start your engine every day. Do you understand that?’ He goes, ‘Yes, ma’am.’

So every day, you know, that I wanted her to help me, I would have to go to her. It wouldn’t be her pushing me. You’d be self-motivated. And that’s another thing she taught me. It’s really important. During her time as coach, she racked up 198 career wins, the most of women’s college basketball history. Upon her retirement, she won eight NCAA championships. In the year 2000, she was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. Then, in August 2011, Pat Summitt announced that she had been diagnosed with early-onset dementia, Alzheimer’s type. Here she is talking about it with her son.

You know, I just felt something was different, and, uh, you know, I at the time, I didn’t know what I was dealing with, and until I went to the Mayo Clinic, I couldn’t be for sure. But I can remember, you know, you know, being—trying to coach and trying to figure out schemes and whatever—and I just, it just wasn’t coming to me like I typically would say, ‘Hey, we’re gonna do this, gonna run that.’ I think it probably caused me to, you know, second-guess. And I know when I was talking with Mickey, you know, and, and I just, she said, ‘You know, what’s going on with you?’ And I said, ‘I don’t know. You know, I don’t know.’ And so, you know, I was glad that we went to the Mayo Clinic because at least I knew then, you know, what I was dealing with.

You know, it’s hard to fight an invisible opponent. And I think that now we know what we’re up against, and we’re ready. We’re ready to take the next chapter in our lives.

Coach Summitt finished out the 2011-2012 season, but with her assistant coach Holly Warlick, who had been with her since 1985, doing most of the coaching. Here, Coach Warlick shares one of her favorite stories about Coach Summitt.

You know, y’all know how intense Pat is. I mean, just off the chain. And we sent our kids off to a for the summer, and we wanted on their own. They had to go work out, and we made sure they had to get in shape. ‘You have to come back in shape.’ And some of the kids—me meant to lose back when you could talk about weight—some of them you had to lose 10 pounds, 15 pounds. We can’t tell them to lose pounds. We just gotta tell them to get in shape now. But Pat told this young lady, ‘You know, you gotta come. You gotta lose the 15 pounds. It’s the bottom line.’ So we all, at the beginning of the year, we meet as a staff and a team, and we come in, and right when they go back to school, where this young lady came in, and Pat’s like, ‘Are you kidding me?’

She goes, ‘Get back to my office right now!’

So the little girl went back and got in the office, and she sat down, and she goes, ‘What have you been doing?’

She goes, ‘Well, I’ve been…’

‘No, you’ve been doing nothing. You have been doing nothing!’ She goes, ‘What did I tell you before you left? I told you to lose 15 pounds. You’re not getting back on the court till you get lose 15 pounds.’

The girls is like about to bust out crying, and she goes, ‘Uh, she…’

Goes, ‘Just leave! Just leave!’

The kid gets up and leaves, and she’s like, goes and gets the team meeting. And Pat calls me in there, and she goes, ‘I just chewed so-and-so out,’ and I said, ‘Really? Okay.’

So we went back into the meeting, all right.

And so we get in the meeting, and we go around and tell each other what our names are and what class you are? And I’m Abby Conklin, I’m a senior, and, you know, and I’m—and I come up—and this young lady goes, and she says, ‘Hi, I’m—I’m Beth Bartel.’

‘I’m a manager, I think.’ And so here’s the great part, too.

As we’re going around, Pat all of a sudden got red and just started looking at the run out of me and goes, ‘Oh my God, I just talked to her, and she’s a manager!’ And I went, ‘What?!’ And so she says, ‘Don’t tell anybody!’ So I went, ‘I won’t, Nikki.’

Do you know what Pat did? Do you know what that did?

So? Yeah. So if you’re going to be a manager, you better get under the way. Inquire.

Just five years after her diagnosis, Pat Summitt passed away. Her memorial was held on July 16th, 2016, at the Thompson-Boling Arena, located on the University of Tennessee campus. The basketball court was renamed The Summitt. Her son, Tyler, spoke first. In front of him was the stool that she would sit on every game.

This stool, it’s here for a reason, as many of you fans know, and, of course, the players.

This was her outward platform where she would sit and her Lady Vol family would gather around her for words of encouragement, words of wisdom, but usually a lot of harsh criticism. But something that I also want to celebrate tonight is my mom’s heart—her enormous heart. And I’m here to tell you that inwardly, behind the scenes, she had three hearts: the heart of a mother, a heart for others, and a heart for Jesus Christ. And so let’s start with the heart of an—I heard three words every single day of my life: ‘I love you.’

Every day.

Didn’t matter how busy she was, what she had to do, she took the time to stop and tell me that. And not only did she say it, but she showed it.

She walked the talk.

You might think that the famous Coach Pat Summitt might not have time for the normal parental duties, like, let’s say, cooking dinner. But I’m here to tell you, the majority of my life, I’m talking six or seven nights a week, my mom was home cooking dinner.

For those of us that know her best.

It wasn’t carry-out, it wasn’t microwave meals. We’re talking the stove, the grill, and two ovens going at the same time. I mean, Pat Summitt felt lazy if she only had one oven going at the same time.

So she had the heart of a mother.

And you’ve been listening to one heck of a story about one heck of a coach, and so much more than just a coach, by the way. The number of human beings whose lives were transformed having encountered Pat Summitt, just as happens with Coach Krzyzewski, Coach John Wooden, and so many of the other coaches we’ve celebrated here on this show. And, of course, Coach Bear Bryant. And her greatest assignment she called her son, Tyler. Six miscarriages she went through. Talk about persistence! And my goodness, what a career! 198 career wins, eight national championships, and the Basketball Hall of Fame in the year 2000. But then comes tragedy: the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s. And not long after, five years after the diagnosis, she passes. And we just heard the eulogy of her son, and my goodness, it was spectacular. When we come back, we’re about to hear more of it here on Our American Stories. And we continue with Our American Stories and the story of Pat Summitt. Let’s pick up where we last left off in the middle of Tyler Summitt’s eulogy for his mom.

One time when I was playing soccer. First, let’s step back.

And realize, as she’s winning those back-to-back-to-back national championships in the ’90s, she still took the time to come and watch.

Her six-year-old play soccer.

At halftime, I ran over to her imaginary stool on the sideline, and I look up and I say, ‘Hey, Mom, you know, how am I doing?’ ‘Well,’ she looked down. She said, ‘Oh, you’re doing all right.’ ‘That’s not Pat Summitt.’ I said, ‘No, come on, Mom, how am I doing?’ And she first took her sunglasses off and got eye level with me. That’s when I knew I was in for it. She said, ‘Son, you’re not being aggressive. Get after the ball! Run after it! Don’t be scared to get physical out there!’

‘Yes, ma’am.’

So I run back out there with those six-year, six-year-olds, and, folks, I was everywhere.

I was all over the field. I was knocking people down.

So I run back over to my coach after the game, and I get some harsh criticism from him as well. And so I’m—I walked back to Mama, sai…