The Associated Press reports that legendary college basketball coach Pat Summitt has died at the age of 64:
As the AP’s tweet notes, Summitt was the winningest coach in Division I college basketball history (men’s or women’s) with an unbelievable 1,098 career victories over 38 seasons (1974-2012), all with the University of Tennessee Lady Vols. Summitt’s incredible run included leading the Lady Vols to eight national championships. She never even had a single losing season, and incredibly began her tenure as Lady Vols head coach at the age of 22 in 1974.
Summitt was diagnosed with early-onset dementia, Alzheimer’s type in 2011. She would go on to coach for one more season, before stepping down. However, she still held the title of head coach emeritus for the Tennessee program.
In 2012, Summitt was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Barack Obama, and received the Arthur Ashe Award at the ESPYs.
It was reported on Sunday that Summitt’s family was “preparing for the worst”, so the news isn’t all that surprising, but that certainly doesn’t make it any less saddening. We lost one of the all-time greats today.
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About Matt Clapp
Matt is an editor/writer at The Comeback and Awful Announcing.
He can be reached by email at mclapp@thecomeback.com.