Patricia Sue Head Summitt passed away on June 28, 2016 after a long fight with early onset dementia, Alzheimer’s Type.

This may not mean anything to you, but for me, this broke my heart.

As a die-hard Vols and Lady Vols fan and a born-and-raised Tennesseean, Pat Summitt is a queen, and will always be, in this state of mine and the community of University of Tennessee.

At 22 years old, she became a graduate assistant coach for the University of Tennessee’s Lady Volunteers basketball team, but she earned the head coach position when her predecessor suddenly quit. She was an unpaid volunteer, drove the bus to games, and washed the uniforms herself. At one point, the team even sewed on their own numbers to the backs of their jerseys. She then built the program from the ground up.

Pat Summitt finished her coaching career after 38 years with 1,098 wins, 8 national championships, not a single losing season, and dozens of other records. In 2012, she was awarded the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the ESPYs, an award given to a sports figure who displays great courage and inspiration on and off the court or field. Summitt is also a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honor awarded that can be given to an American citizen.

However, many, including Summitt and myself, consider her greatest accomplishments the hundreds of players’ lives she has touched and altered significantly. She says towards the end of her autobiography that she thinks of her legacy at The University of Tennessee as a beautiful tree with living branches, and not as something on a piece of paper.

During her time as coach, every Lady Vol player who completed her eligibility at Tennessee under Summitt not only played in at least one Elite Eight, but more importantly, every single player who completed her eligibility at Tennessee under Summitt graduated with a degree or is in the process of doing so. She became a mother figure to hundreds of her players, and an inspiration to all.

Sure, the wins were amazing and something special, but the way she was always there for her players, and would rather them succeed off the court than on, shows who she truly was.

She was an amazing mother to her only son Tyler. And together in 2012, they were baptized together.

She also was the biggest force in my life that lead me to love and play the game of basketball, and all kinds of other sports. She helped me learn the value of hard work and determination, and that I could achieve anything I set my mind to.

She helped pioneer women's basketball, and women's sports in general, but is so much more than that. Pat Summitt is and will always be an inspiration and a champion, in life and in death. She is the picture of excellence and hard work.

She will be greatly missed by all who knew her and the Vol family.