There was no better way to end the star-studded evening than filling the Tennessee Theatre with the sound of a crowd belting “Rocky Top,” led by none other than Lady Vols coach Pat Summitt herself.
The famous video of Summitt dressed as a Tennessee cheerleader singing at a men’s basketball game in 2007 played on the screen behind a crew of legends in their own right. Three former players − Candace Parker, Nikki Fargas, and Andraya Carter, South Carolina coach Dawn Staley, and ESPN’s Holly Rowe sang on stage, eventually wrapping their arms around each other for the line “Good ol’ Rocky Top” and finishing it off with an emphatic “Woo” to close it.
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And yes, Staley joined in the singing for the final lines. She was full of enthusiasm as she yelled, “Woo!” For an event like this, she sang it like she meant it.
The five women spent two hours telling stories of Summitt for a live reunion show by Omaha Productions on Dec. 11. They reminisced as old friends in front of a live audience, sharing laughter and a few tears at the memory of the coaching legend who died in 2016. Some of the stories were new, and some were the ones often retold that never get old.
It was an intimate setting that gave a rare window into Summitt’s legacy in its truest form: the relationships she built with those around her, and the relationships her former players have with each other.
Carter joked before the show that it wasn’t production’s fault for giving them all separate rooms to get ready in – but they quickly abandoned them and all headed to Parker’s.
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“It’s something to put on a Lady Vol uniform, and you’re part of a really special crew,” Parker said. “We’ve all done our jobs of staying in touch and being for others what we need and what coach was for us for so long. When coach passed away … because she held it together, it was a little bit of finding ourselves, finding our footing. But we’ve done that by continuing to stay in touch, continuing to have our phones open and our doors open, and it’s a great reunion whenever we’re able to get back together.”
The panel was flanked by all eight of Summitt’s national championship trophies on stage, the nets draped over each one, as they recounted being recruited by Summitt, seeing both her competitiveness and care for them and how they were impacted witnessing her fight with Alzheimer’s.
Carter recalled the way Summitt could disarm people and make them immediately feel comfortable in her presence that she was well aware was intimidating to most. Carter, who was part of Summitt’s final recruiting class, was so nervous the first time she called her future coach in ninth grade she was in tears. She opened the call with a tentative, “Hi, Coach Summitt.”
“Hey Player Andraya,” Summitt replied. “You can call me Pat.”
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“It was almost like she put her arms around me through the phone,” Carter said.
When Parker found out she was pregnant in 2008 with her daughter, Lailaa, she was nervous to tell Summitt. And nervous for what it would mean for her career, coming off a year no one would ever replicate winning an NCAA championship, Olympic gold medal, WNBA Rookie of the Year and the first of two WNBA MVPs.
But once Parker told Summitt she was expecting a baby girl, she answered with nothing but joy. Summitt reminded her of how much she had always wanted to be a mother, Parker said, and the next day, she woke up to a Tennessee stroller and cheerleading outfit on her doorstep.
“I think in some ways, she’s still teaching me lessons today,” Parker said. “We all try to make Pat proud, and I think we’re doing that today. We’re continuing to do that with the lessons that we’re learning, not as hard headed 18 to 22 year olds, but the finished product of, I’m almost 40 years old now. So it’s special.”
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Staley was the only panelist who didn’t play for Summitt, but her playing and coaching careers, and even her personal life, were intertwined with Summitt. Staley’s own mother had Alzheimer’s, and as a young coach, Staley felt mentored by Summitt.
“We were all mentored by her,” Staley said. “She was the standard. It wasn’t basketball – that was part of it – but it was how she treated you.”
As a player, it was Staley’s Virginia team that knocked the Lady Vols out of the 1990 NCAA tournament in overtime, robbing Tennessee of the chance to play in a Final Four on its home court. The Lady Vols got their redemption the next season, winning the 1991 national championship over Virginia in overtime, which Fargas, who was a freshman, relished in recounting with Staley to her right.
“I’m proud to be here and be part of Coach Summitt’s history,” Staley said. “Even in defeat.”
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Cora Hall is the University of Tennessee women’s athletics reporter for Knox News. Email: cora.hall@knoxnews.com; X: @corahalll; Bluesky: @corahall.bsky.social. Support strong local journalism and unlock premium perks:knoxnews.com/subscribe
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: How Candace Parker, Dawn Staley honored Pat Summitt’s legacy
