Legendary college basketball coach Pat Summitt is dead at 64

Basketball coach Pat Summitt is dead at 64
(Image credit: Doug Benc/Getty Images)

Former Tennessee women's basketball coach Pat Summitt, who led the Lady Vols to eight national championships and amassed the winningest record in Division I college basketball, died Tuesday. She was 64. Summitt retired in 2012, after 38 years at Tennessee, after being diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. She ended her coaching career with an unprecedented 1,098-208 record, and in her 38 seasons, she never had a losing record; her Lady Vols made every NCAA Tournament and played in 18 Final Four matches.

Her son, Tyler Summitt, said Tuesday morning that his mother had died peacefully at a retirement home in Knoxville. "Since 2011, my mother has battled her toughest opponent, early onset dementia, 'Alzheimer's Type,'" he wrote, "and we can all find peace in knowing she no longer carries the heavy burden of this disease."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.