Friday, May 07, 2010
Congratulations Pat Summit!
Bill's blog from February 7, 2009:
Hats off to Pat Summit, coach of the Tennessee Lady Vols, on her 1,000th win. To add a bit of perspective, her first win was January 10, 1975 … a little over 4½ years BEFORE we launched ESPN in September 1979.
How the world of women’s basketball has changed. Well into the 1980s, attendance at women’s college basketball games was - shall we say - not robust! Some great teams from Old Dominion, Louisiana Tech, Iowa and others simply played terrific basketball in front of small, but enthusiastic, crowds.
During that decade, with the help of ESPN and some strenuous efforts from coaches like Summit and C. Vivian Stringer to get more coverage, the game caught on. While at Iowa, Stringer, currently at Rutgers, filled Carver-Hawkeye Arena to capacity. As far as I know that was the first sellout of a major arena for women’s basketball. Summit coached teams that now routinely sellout Thompson-Boling arena in Knoxville as do many other great teams around the country … especially UConn, Oklahoma, Duke, Auburn and many more.
Of course, there are many coaches and teams who labored in virtual anonymity during the last quarter of the 20th century. Today, their efforts are rewarded and even recognized by the NCAA with a Final Four of their own with teams selected on an ESPN Selection Show and complete coverage of all 63 games by the Worldwide Leader in Sports.
This year, College Fanz will extend coverage to all levels of Men’s and Women’s post season tournaments. Our “2009 College Fanz Perfect 10” bracket event will include complete brackets with great prizes to the winners of all six NCAA Division I, II and III post season championships as well as all four of the NAIA Division I and II Championships.
Register early (see the Home Page) and join the fun. Summits’ Lady Vols and Stringer’s Lady Knights will be joined by over 300 other women’s teams from around the country competing for the right to be called Champions of each of the five divisions.
Play starts March 1st when selections for NCAA D III Men are posted and then the merry month of March Madness is underway. Come play the 2009 College Fanz Perfect 10 event and add to you enjoyment of the absolutely best month of the year for college basketball fans.
Hats off to Pat Summit, coach of the Tennessee Lady Vols, on her 1,000th win. To add a bit of perspective, her first win was January 10, 1975 … a little over 4½ years BEFORE we launched ESPN in September 1979.
How the world of women’s basketball has changed. Well into the 1980s, attendance at women’s college basketball games was - shall we say - not robust! Some great teams from Old Dominion, Louisiana Tech, Iowa and others simply played terrific basketball in front of small, but enthusiastic, crowds.
During that decade, with the help of ESPN and some strenuous efforts from coaches like Summit and C. Vivian Stringer to get more coverage, the game caught on. While at Iowa, Stringer, currently at Rutgers, filled Carver-Hawkeye Arena to capacity. As far as I know that was the first sellout of a major arena for women’s basketball. Summit coached teams that now routinely sellout Thompson-Boling arena in Knoxville as do many other great teams around the country … especially UConn, Oklahoma, Duke, Auburn and many more.
Of course, there are many coaches and teams who labored in virtual anonymity during the last quarter of the 20th century. Today, their efforts are rewarded and even recognized by the NCAA with a Final Four of their own with teams selected on an ESPN Selection Show and complete coverage of all 63 games by the Worldwide Leader in Sports.
This year, College Fanz will extend coverage to all levels of Men’s and Women’s post season tournaments. Our “2009 College Fanz Perfect 10” bracket event will include complete brackets with great prizes to the winners of all six NCAA Division I, II and III post season championships as well as all four of the NAIA Division I and II Championships.
Register early (see the Home Page) and join the fun. Summits’ Lady Vols and Stringer’s Lady Knights will be joined by over 300 other women’s teams from around the country competing for the right to be called Champions of each of the five divisions.
Play starts March 1st when selections for NCAA D III Men are posted and then the merry month of March Madness is underway. Come play the 2009 College Fanz Perfect 10 event and add to you enjoyment of the absolutely best month of the year for college basketball fans.
Labels: auburn, c_vivian_stringer, duke, ESPN, iowa, knoxville, lady_knights, louisiana_tech, naia, ncaa_final_four, oklahoma, old_dominion, pat_summit, rutgers, tennessee_lady_vols, uconn, womens_basketball
# posted by ESPN Founder : 9:21 AM
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