Pat Summitt
Tuesday was a sad day in Tennessee for sports fans and non-sports fans alike with the passing of former Lady Vol basketball coach Pat Head Sumitt. As most everyone knows, Coach Summitt succumbed to early onset dementia in the form of Alzheimer’s early Tuesday morning. Coach Summitt, who never recorded a losing season in 38 years of coaching at Tennessee, won more games than anyone in college basketball history, including 8 national championships.
As is most often the case, many of the Manchester area people who knew Coach Summitt, or had dealings with her, flooded social media with their condolences. Stories of her recruiting local girls, visiting Coffee County Central High School and even interactions with her in the classroom and in gym.
Nick Trail, who served as a student manager at the University of Tennessee from 2002 to 2009, was one of those who had his own personal interactions with the iconic coach. “She was the most classy and humble individual I have ever met” said Trail when contacted by Thunder Radio on Tuesday night. “Once she spoke to you, she made you feel like family” Trail added. To hear more from our interview with Nick Trail, you can click on the audio clip below.
Coffee County Central High School girls basketball coach Herb Horton was a student under Coach Summitt during his college days at Tennessee. “I had the honor of having her as a teacher at UT” coach Horton shared in a text message on Tuesday. “She was an inspiration!” added Horton.
Perhaps Coach Summitt’s legacy and position of reverence to all Tennesseans is best captured in her own quote from her 2013 book “Sum it Up: A Thousand and Ninety-Eight Victories, a Couple of Irrelevant Losses, and a Life in Perspective.“ “I remember every player — every single one — who wore the Tennessee orange, a shade that our rivals hate, a bold, aggravating color that you can usually find on a roadside crew, ‘or in a correctional institution,’ as my friend Wendy Larry jokes. But to us the color is a flag of pride, because it identifies us as Lady Vols and therefore as women of an unmistakable type. Fighters. I remember how many of them fought for a better life for themselves. I just met them halfway.” Patricia Sue Head Summitt was 64 years old.
