Pat Summitt’s incredible timeline of sporting greatness….

 

pat 1976

Pat Summitt – 1976

 

1974: At age 21, she is named the head coach of the women’s basketball team at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. On Jan. 10, 1975, Summitt wins her first game as a coach at the collegiate level, a 69-32 victory over Middle Tennessee. She finishes her first season with 16 wins and eight losses.

1976: As a player, she co-captains the U.S. women’s basketball team. Summitt leads the team to a silver medal at the Olympic Games in Montreal. It marks the first year of women’s basketball at the Olympics.

1979: On January 13, Summitt wins her 100th game at Tennessee with a 79-66 victory over NC State.

1984: She serves head coach of the U.S. women’s basketball team. Under her watch, they win gold at the Olympics in Los Angeles.

1987: On March 29, Tennessee wins their first NCAA title with a 67-44 victory against Louisiana Tech at the University of Texas.

1989: On April 2, Summitt leads the Lady Vols to their second NCAA title. They beat SEC rival Auburn 76-60 at the Tacoma Dome.

 

1989

Pat Summitt – 1989 second NCAA Title 

 

1991: On March 31, Sumitt and the Lady Vols secure their third NCAA title in New Orleands with a 70-67 overtime win against Virginia.

1993: Summitt reaches her 500th coaching victory on November 21 as the Vols beat Ohio State 80-45 in the season-opener.

1996: The Vols notch their fourth NCAA title with an 83-65 win over Georgia on March 31 in Charlotte.

1997: On March 30, Tennessee upsets Old Dominion 68-59 in Cincinnati as the Lady Vols capture their fifth national championship.

1998: Tennessee beats Louisiana Tech 93-75 in Kansas City on March 29. Summitt wraps up a perfect 39-0 season as she claims the Lady Vols’ third consecutive NCAA title.

1999: On June 5, Summitt is inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, in its first year.

2000: On October 13, Summitt is enshrined into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. She was just the fourth women’s basketball coach to earn Hall of Fame honors. In April, she is named the Naismith Women’s College Coach of the Century.

2004: On February 29, the Vols beat LSU 85-62 for their seventh consecutive SEC regular-season championship.

2005: With a 75-54 win over Purdue on March 22, Summitt picks up her 880th coaching victory to surpass Dean Smith of North Carolina as the all-time winningest coach in NCAA history.

2007: On April 3, Summitt captures her seventh national championship, nine years after her last NCAA title win. Tennessee beat Rutgers 59-46.

 

2007

Pat Summitt – 2007, during her 7th Championship winning season 

2008: Summitt picks up championship No. 8 on April 8 as the Lady Vols upset Stanford 64-48.

2009: On February 5, Summitt claims her 1,000th career coaching win when the Lady Vols defeat Georgia 73-43. Summitt is the first Division I coach, man or woman, to win 1,000 games.

2011: On August 23, Summitt announces that she has been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s.

She launches the Pat Summitt Foundation on November 27, which is dedicated to finding a cure for Alzheimer’s.

On December 5, she is announced as the Sports Illustrated Sportswoman of the Year. The Sportsman of the Year is Duke men’s basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski. Krzyzewski and Summitt are the NCAA’s all-time winningest men’s and women’s basketball coaches.

The NCAA announces on December 6 that Summitt is the recipient of the 2012 NCAA President’s Gerald R. Ford Award, which honors an individual who has provided significant leadership as an advocate for intercollegiate athletics over the course of their career.

2012: On May 29, she receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama at the White House.

2012: For the third consecutive year, Tennessee wins the SEC tournament title on March 4.

On April 18, Summitt steps down as the head coach of the University of Tennessee’s women’s basketball team after 38 years.

 

 

President Barack Obama presents the Presidential Medal of Freedom to former University of Tennessee basketball coach Pat Summitt during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House, May 29, 2012. Looking on at left is author Toni Morrison who also received the Medal of Freedom. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)

Pat Summitt – 2012 – President Barack Obama presenting Pat with the Presidential Medal of Freedom