With 1,098 career wins, 18 Final Four appearances, and 8 national championships, Pat Summitt will forever be remembered as one of the greatest basketball coaches of all time. But her legacy extends beyond the court—Summitt’s public battle with Alzheimer’s has inspired millions. This week, women’s basketball teams across the country took part in the “We Back Pat” movement, honoring the late Hall of Famer and raising awareness for the disease. Alabama’s game was on Sunday, where the Crimson Tide lost to Summitt’s former school, Tennessee.
“We have a responsibility to carry on Coach Summitt’s legacy, with the dignity, class, and integrity, how she coached the game, how she impacted as a servant leader,” Alabama head coach Kristy Curry said. “To raise awareness for this dreadful disease, where everybody in this room knows somebody who’s been affected, we truly have a responsibility.”
Kristy Curry knew Summitt well. She lost to Summit’s volunteers in the second round of the 2005 NCAA tournament, the game in which Summitt broke Dean Smith’s NCAA all-time wins record. She cited the Hall of Famer as being a role model for herself and all coaches…
“I will forever be indebted, and I think whenever we take time for others the way she did, it only helps our game be better than where it’s at,” Curry said.
With a state-of-the-art clinic in Knoxville and countless fundraising initiatives across the country, the Pat Summitt Foundation is one of the top organizations for Alzheimer’s research and prevention. We Back Pat” week is just a small part of the work being done in the name of the former coach to try and render Alzheimer’s a thing of the past.