Pat Summitt: Women's basketball loses a true pioneer

Leave it to Doug Bruno to come up with the perfect way to describe Pat Summitt.

Bruno, the longtime women's basketball coach at DePaul, has always had a way with words and a knack for storytelling and using metaphors.

When news broke Tuesday morning of the death of Summitt, the legendary women's basketball coach at Tennessee who retired in 2012 with 1,098 victories (most in Division I college basketball history, men or women), I knew Bruno would be ready with just the right perspective.

He was good friends with the 64-year-old Summitt, a Hall of Famer and seven-time NCAA coach of the year who had stepped down from her duties one year after announcing that she had early onset dementia, Alzheimer's type.

Summitt spent the final years of her life heading up the Pat Summitt Foundation, which raised funds for Alzheimer's research.

"When you play Tennessee, their band plays 'Rocky Top' at least 25 times a game. I mean, seriously. We've counted it before," Bruno said with a laugh. "If you ever listen to the words, there's a part that goes, 'Once there was a girl on rocky top, half bear the other half cat. Wild as mink, sweet as soda pop, I still dream about that.'

"It's perfect, because that was pretty much Pat. Between the lines she could be mean as a mink, but outside the lines she was sweet as soda pop.

"She was such a nice, genuine person. Just a really good person."

The hundreds of players coached by Summitt over her 38 seasons at Tennessee, including former suburban stars Tamika Catchings (Stevenson) and Candace Parker (Naperville Central), can attest to her two distinct sides, the steely-eyed screamer and disciplinarian on the sideline and at practice, pushing Tennessee to eight NCAA national championships and 22 Final Fours, and the mothering mentor who cooked homemade team dinners and didn't skimp on hugs or lending a sympathetic ear.

Parker shared a picture via Twitter on Tuesday of a handwritten note that she received from Summitt while she was being recruited in high school.

Summitt wrote: "Candace, I think I could help you on and off the court. I would do my best to help you develop as a player, person and student. We could have a lot of fun in the process. Think about it. I want to be your coach!"

Bruno saw firsthand how warm and caring and personable Summitt could be.

DePaul and Bruno faced Tennessee 20 times over the years. (Tennessee is 20-0 against the Blue Demons). In 1995 when the Lady Vols played in Chicago, Bruno learned after the game that his sister Drotha had committed suicide earlier in the day.

Summitt, still in town the next day, comforted a distraught Bruno as the two sat in an empty gym.

"I remember her sitting with me," Bruno said of Summitt. "We just talked about life and basketball and how life is so much bigger than basketball."

But, make no mistake, basketball was still pretty big for Summitt, and she managed to make women's basketball much bigger than anyone could have ever dreamed when she first became Tennessee's head coach in 1974.

She went from driving her players around from road game to road game in a van, washing their uniforms, making sandwiches for their lunches and earning about $250 a month, to flying private jets, drawing sellout crowds, making seven-figure salaries and getting courts at Tennessee named after her.

"Pat was a great fighter and competitor and champion for women's basketball," Bruno said. "She helped define the sport, post-Title IX, and she helped to set the bar. If you look at her 1,000-plus wins, she's got more than anyone against ranked opponents. The whole Tennessee-Connecticut rivalry helped grow women's basketball.

"She wanted to play the best teams and showcase the game and play in the biggest markets. She understood the importance of growing women's basketball."

Summitt's reach and influence was evident with the outpouring of tributes that dominated social media Tuesday.

It will be even more tangible next month during a public "Celebration of Life Service" for Summitt. That will be held on July 14 at her "home away from home," Thompson-Boling Arena on the campus of the University of Tennessee.

The court there is called "The Summitt."

Bruno is planning to attend. He says it could be a reunion of sorts for women's basketball coaches.

"Oh, I think a lot of coaches will be there," he said. "That place seats 22,000. I don't know if there are going to be tickets for it or what, but I know there won't be enough seats."

pbabcock@dailyherald.com

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