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Summitt honors parents, UT with donation of $600,000

By Dan Fleser (Contact)
Originally published 01:20 p.m., August 4, 2008
Updated 06:44 p.m., August 4, 2008

When Pat Summitt considers her benefits and blessings, two University of Tennessees come to mind.

The Lady Vols women’s basketball coach took care of both with a $600,000 donation to the “The Campaign for Tennessee” fundraising effort. The gift, which was announced Monday, will be split between UT-Knoxville, where Summitt has coached for 34 seasons, and UT-Martin, where she played basketball and volleyball and graduated in 1974.

The basketball courts at both schools are named in Summitt’s honor.

Summitt’s donation includes a $100,000 endowed scholarship for a Lady Vols basketball graduate assistant in honor of her parents, Richard and Hazel Head.

“Both places have been great for me,’’ Summitt said. “They’ve both been incredibly important in the career path I’ve taken. They’ve helped mold me as a player and a person.”

At Martin, there were coaches, professors and fellow students. Summitt went so far as to include her Chi Omega sorority as being important to her maturation.

“The Chi Omega friends I’ve had are still some of the best friends in my life,’’ Summitt said. They’ve probably influenced me as much as anyone.”

In Knoxville, Summitt is grateful for former university president Ed Boling, former men’s athletic director Doug Dickey, his successor, Mike Hamilton, and other administrators.

“What sticks in my mind is the incredible support for women’s athletics,’’ she said.

Summitt is the third Tennessee coach to make a major gift to the university in the past two years. In March of 2007, men’s basketball coach Bruce Pearl endowed a scholarship in honor of former player Dane Bradshaw. Last August, football coach Phillip Fulmer and his wife, Vicky, announced a $1 million gift to the university to be split equally between academics and athletics.

Summitt earmarked her gift for women’s basketball because, as she said, “that’s where I’ve had the strongest support.”

“This is a way of putting a stamp on something that is very special to her,’’ Lady Vols athletic director Joan Cronan said.

Summitt said that the gift’s timing “is just right for me personally.”

It follows back-to-back national championships by the Lady Vols, as well as the renovation of Thompson-Boling Arena and the opening of Pratt Pavilion, the basketball practice facility.

“If you stop and think about all the things that have happened in the last couple of years, it’s been amazing,’’ Summitt said. “It’s incredible.”

What’s yet to happen is an upgrade in Summitt’s contract. It’s merely a matter of time, however. Cronan said the topic is being discussed.

Summitt and the university came to terms two years ago on a six-year extension that enabled her to be the first women’s coach to break the $1 million barrier. But that was before the national championships and Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma’s new five-year deal this spring, which started at $1.4 million.

“You want to renew a contract after someone has won back-to-back national championships; that’s obvious,’’ Cronan said. “We’re trying to come up with what’s the right contract for Pat Summitt.”

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.

       38 Comments

Posted by BigOrangeHustler on August 4, 2008 at 1:31 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Pshhh....Thats sissy. My boy Fulmer donated a mil. Summitt needs to get her weight up.

Posted by volboy81 on August 4, 2008 at 1:36 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Thanks Coach Summitt. You are the best!

Posted by vol4gzus on August 4, 2008 at 1:36 p.m. (Suggest removal)

So how much did you donate BOH? Not quite the mil huh? Thats ok. Pat has contributed way beyond what money can measure in so many ways to our fine institution. Dollars and cents are nice , but investing in people is a legacy that lives on an on....

Posted by hallsguy on August 4, 2008 at 1:49 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Hey BOH,Phatphil also make double what Pat makes.
And vol4gzus has it exactly right.very much!

Posted by HotlantaVol on August 4, 2008 at 1:52 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Her dad's name is Richard Head? I had no idea.

Posted by Chartervol on August 4, 2008 at 2:17 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Excellent. Now 86 all that Carolina blue.

Posted by TommyJack on August 4, 2008 at 3:41 p.m. (Suggest removal)

hotlantavol: You are bad.

Posted by General_Watermelon on August 4, 2008 at 3:47 p.m. (Suggest removal)

BOH - Relative to her income, she gave more than Fulmer.

Richard Head?........................................................... Oh, I get it. Dang Hotlanta.

Posted by General_Watermelon on August 4, 2008 at 3:48 p.m. (Suggest removal)

hallsguy - is that you Dupree?

Posted by LadyVolsEighTimes on August 4, 2008 at 3:50 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Harter as I understand it UT's original school colors were blue and white, if I remeber correctly. I do know that it was not Orange.

I forget the shade of blue's actual name, but it is not Carolina blue. I like the blue trim color, beats the hell outta those Orange pants with Orange Jerseys on the football field.

Posted by TommyJack on August 4, 2008 at 3:54 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Lady8: Agree with the last half of your last sentence. Never heard that story about blue and white. Ever.

Posted by LadyVolsEighTimes on August 4, 2008 at 3:55 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Oh, and Lady Vols are suppose to be playing in all Pink for Breast Cancer week this season.

As much as you guys claim to enjoy breasts, it looks like they could put the Men in Pink that weeks as well!!

Posted by KCHS63 on August 4, 2008 at 4 p.m. (Suggest removal)

The colors were not blue and white. It was some hideous combination of purple and something else. The first (and still) official colors are Orange and White (the orange shade taken from the daisies that grew on the Hill). The Lady Vols trim in Columbia Blue and do so in honor of their famous coach's school colors, the Orange and Columbia Blue of the University of Tennessee at Martin.

Oh, yeah, and I love that Beavis and Butthead sniggering over the late Mr. Head's name. I remember how much fun it was to do that in my sophomore year. You rock, HotlantaVol (or is that Vawl?)

Posted by LadyVolsEighTimes on August 4, 2008 at 4:54 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Sounds correct KCH, I can't find it now, I think it used to be on the UT Traditions Web Page about the other colors used.

Posted by SemperVol on August 4, 2008 at 5:11 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I saw Pat Summitt at Buster's Place in Murfreesboro, TN a few weeks ago. Anyone know where that is?

Posted by LadyVolFanForever on August 4, 2008 at 5:28 p.m. (Suggest removal)

A very heartfelt move by a very classy lady and the best basketball and life coach in existence !
This woman cares about what is important and I am very thankful we are lucky enough to have her.

Best of everything to you Coach Summitt !

Posted by pdhuff on August 4, 2008 at 6:42 p.m. (Suggest removal)

TJ, she is now officially Coach For Eternity- 600 large to go along with the Grails. She is the babe.

She is now officially licensed to knock whatever she wants to off her deck.

How many days, Ashley? Oops, wrong thread and no responder.

Posted by threehundredbowler on August 4, 2008 at 7:53 p.m. (Suggest removal)

if you can afford it ,give it.

Posted by ncvol on August 4, 2008 at 8:05 p.m. (Suggest removal)

She always does the right thing. She is a keeper.
We love you Pat and you are a special lady.
Go Vols and Lady Vols !!

Posted by BillVol on August 4, 2008 at 11:27 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I always wonder how these heavy hitters decide on the amount of their donations. Why $600K? Why not $500K or $750K? Or why did the Haslams donate $32M? Why not an even $30M?

Hey, but it's all good! Hats off to these great Volunteers.

Posted by bamacheats on August 5, 2008 at 12:16 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Her dad is a "Richard Head". They need to slap that name on a court somewhere.

Posted by gobigorange on August 5, 2008 at 12:38 a.m. (Suggest removal)

BILLVOL I DONT KNOW FOR SURE IF I HAD MY GUESS THEY COME UP WITH THESE FIGURES FOR TAX PURPOSES IM JUST GLAD TO SEE PEOPLE ABLE TO DONATE THAT MUCH MONEY : I WOULD IF I COULD

Posted by ladivolfan on August 5, 2008 at 6:35 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Pat has so much class. Unlike the little boys in this thread giggling at her father's name. I guess the pink post by LV8 made you snicker too. Such immaturity.

Posted by gainesville_vol on August 5, 2008 at 7:32 a.m. (Suggest removal)

gobigorange has the same philosophy about deductible donations as the liberals in this country. You only do it for the tas write off. Let's see, you give away $600,000 so that you can save $210,000 in taxes (if you are in the top bracket of 35%). Yep, makes sense to me!

People donate money because they care. Otherwise, Pat would have kept $390,000 in her pocket and paid the taxes.

Posted by rbut5252 on August 5, 2008 at 9:35 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Isn't it funny what a difference those alimony checks make in a woman's life?

Posted by ukkrazy on August 5, 2008 at 11:58 a.m. (Suggest removal)

rbut5252: I am sure Pat does not receive alimony--she makes more than her ex...and she might even have to pay him some! She prob does get child support if her son lives with her though.

As to the $600,000, I agree with gobigorange it most probably has to do with taxes but that does not mean she did not donate it for the right reason--only that she donated the amount that could be advantageous to her as well.

Pat is most definitely a real gem!

Posted by TropicalFish on August 5, 2008 at 1:42 p.m. (Suggest removal)

>>I am sure Pat does not receive alimony--she makes more than her ex...

Isn't her ex an investment banker? If so I'm thinking he makes three times as much as she does... unless he was investing in those mortgage securities...

But I doubt if Pat would ask for alimony even so. She's not some bubble head out of California.

Posted by pdhuff on August 5, 2008 at 2:37 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Does she have a "20 is enuf" contract?

Posted by MillisaAnn on August 5, 2008 at 5:49 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Thank You Pat!!! Your a class act indeed.

Go Lady Vols!!!

LadyVolsEighTimes

I agree let the men wear Pink the week of Breast Cancer Awareness week.

Posted by BigOrangeVol on August 5, 2008 at 5:59 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Thanks Pat; we couldn't be more proud of you!

I'm worried about this season though. Baugh and Bjorklund have looked pretty weak on the U-19 team. Angie STILL isn't shooting or taking care of the ball that well at all; 7ppg in 17 minutes per game with an assist/turnover ratio of 7/9. Vicki is shooting ok from a percentage standpoint (56%) but free throws under 58% are horrible; 6.5 ppg is sad; 6 boards a game is weak and 1/3 assit to turnover ratio is not going to cut it.

Bass, Brewer, Cain, Gray, Johnson, McMahan, Manning and Stricklen better be lights-out this year or it's going to be a long season with this schedule. I hate having to rely on Freshmen and Redshirt Freshmen!!!

I sure don't want to be all gloom & doom but I'm not expecting an SEC title or even an Elite 8 this year. Hopefully we can take our lumps to start the schedule and then Pat will have the girls in NC form come March.

Posted by ladivolfan on August 5, 2008 at 7:08 p.m. (Suggest removal)

BoV I agree. This is definitely a rebuilding year and perhaps next year as well, but after that, everyone better watch out because Pat can do!

Posted by heathshulerbbq21 on August 6, 2008 at 1:02 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Summitt's donation means a lot more than ole Philopotamus' donation. He did it to steal some more years from the football program.

Posted by 98reax on August 6, 2008 at 11:03 a.m. (Suggest removal)

rbut & cheats, do you ever consider contributing? You certainly have nothing worthy for this forum.

Posted by Rok_Etop on August 6, 2008 at 12:17 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Another "one up" on Geno. Pat is continually more classy than any of her counterpart. Now Pay the Lady her due!!!

Posted by Rok_Etop on August 6, 2008 at 12:20 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Another "one up" on Geno. Pat is continually more classy than any of her counterpart. Now Pay the Lady her due!!!

Also, is Vicki Baugh playing ball?? I thought she did her ACL in the tourney?? No way she is ready to play after an ACL?!!

Posted by BigOrangeVol on August 6, 2008 at 11:31 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Rok, Vicki is playing on the U.S. under-19 league with Bjorklund.

bbq/Fletch:
Trust me, Heath would be infuriated to see someone use his name as a screen name and then slam Phillip!
But the John Cocktoastin is pretty funny.

Posted by TnTx13 on August 7, 2008 at 6:08 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Rok and BOV - Vicki Baugh is still rehabbing her torn ACL. She and Bjorklund played on last year's Under 19 team. Alyssia Brewer and Shekinna Stricklen (incoming freshmen Lady Vols) are playing on this year's Under 18 team. (Reference www. usabasketball.com - click on the Women's Teams box to see various rosters.)

And way to go, Coach Summitt!

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