Coach Pat Summitt Honored by House

Washington, DC -- Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Wisconsin for yielding me this time. It is a very special honor and privilege for me to rise to urge support for a resolution honoring a personal friend of mine, the head women's basketball coach at my alma mater, the University of Tennessee, and that is our great coach, Pat Head Summitt.

   The gentleman from New York has very succinctly outlined many of the accomplishments and honors that Coach Summitt has received in her career, but I would like to reiterate some of these things. It is really a phenomenal record that she has.

   Coach Summitt has coached for more than 35 years, all with the Lady Vols. Her overall record is 1,005 wins and 192 losses for a winning percentage of better than 84 percent. Coach Summitt and the Lady Vols have won 27 Southeastern Conference titles. Coach Summitt and the Lady Vols have won eight NCAA championships. She has been named the NCAA Coach of the Year seven times and SEC Coach of the Year seven times.

   Coach Summitt also coached the U.S.A. women's basketball team to the Olympic Gold Medal in the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. She is the author of two books, ``Reach for the Summitt'' and ``Raise the Roof.'' They are both very inspiring books.

   In 1999, Coach Summitt was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame, and in 2000 she was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts, becoming only the fourth women's basketball coach to receive that distinction. Also in 2000, she was named the Naismith Coach of the Century.

   On February 2, 2007, Wheaties unveiled a Breakfast of Champions box in her honor, making her the first women's basketball coach to be honored on such a box. Coach Summitt has two streets named in her honor: Pat Head Summitt Street on the University of Tennessee-Knoxville campus, and Pat Head Summitt Avenue on the University of Tennessee-Martin campus.

   Coach Summitt also has a remarkable 100 percent graduation rate, as the gentleman from New York mentioned, with every student athlete who has completed their eligibility at UT either graduating or working toward all of the requirements for graduation within the NCAA-allotted time of 6 years. I don't think there is any other coach, men or women's coach, in this country that can say that. And I will tell you that she also insists on her students taking tough courses that lead to good careers. And we often read in the Knoxville newspapers about the great success of many of her graduates.

   Pat Head Summitt is simply an outstanding woman and an outstanding individual in every way, both personally and professionally. And it is a great honor for me to stand here before you today to bring this resolution to the floor honoring Coach Pat Head Summitt and the Lady Vols and congratulating her on achieving that tremendous, just almost unbelievable mark of 1,000 victories.

   I urge all of my colleagues to support the resolution.