Sum it up : 1,098 victories, a couple of irrelevant losses, and a life in perspective /

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Pat Summitt, the all-time winningest coach in NCAA basketball history and bestselling author of Reach for the Summitt and Raise The Roof , tells for the first time her remarkable story of victory and resilience as well as facing down her greatest challenge: early-onset Alzheimer's disease.

Pat Summitt was only 21 when she became head coach of the Tennessee Vols women's basketball team. For 38 years, she broke records, winning more games than any NCAA team in basketball history. She coached an undefeated season, co-captained the first women's Olympic team, was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame, and was named Sports Illustrated 'Sportswoman of the Year'.
She owed her coaching success to her personal struggles and triumphs. She learned to be tough from her strict, demanding father. Motherhood taught her to balance that rigidity with communication and kindness. She was a role model for the many women she coached; 74 of her players have become coaches.
Pat's life took a shocking turn in 2011, when she was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease, an irreversible brain condition that affects 5 million Americans. Despite her devastating diagnosis, she led the Vols to win their sixteenth SEC championship in March 2012. Pat continued to be a fighter, facing this new challenge the way she's faced every other--with hard work, perseverance, and a sense of humor.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• 1 Footprints in the Sand (p. 3)
• 2 Country Girl (p. 23)
• 3 Miss Chi Omega (p. 55)
• 4 Olympian (p. 89)
• 5 Bridesmaid and Bride (p. 119)
• 6 Professional Woman (p. 157)
• 7 Working Mother (p. 193)
• 8 Champion, Part I (p. 227)
• 9 Champion, Part II (p. 263)
• 10 Single Mother (p. 297)
• 11 Patient (p. 339)
• Where Some of Them Are Now (p. 377)
• Appendix (p. 383)
• Acknowledgments (p. 389)
• Photograph Credits (p. 391)
• Index (p. 393)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Kirkus Book Review

The NCAA's winningest basketball coach opens up about private and public contests that have defined her. While the title of Summitt's latest work (Reach for the Summit, 1998, etc.) is a reflection of her long career as head coach of the University of Tennessee's Lady Vols--eight national championships and 1,098 victories--the substance of this engaging memoir offers an unvarnished look at defining moments behind those incomparable achievements. In 2011, the basketball world was shocked when Summitt, one of the best strategic minds ever to grace the hardwood, revealed she had been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's. The author tackles the elephant in the room by introducing each historically gauged chapter with snapshots of conversations, between Summitt and co-author Jenkins (co-author: In a Heartbeat: Sharing the Power of Cheerful Giving, 2010, etc.), focused squarely on the coach's relation to her illness. Though hardly one to wallow, when asked if she would trade her championships to have her health restored, Summitt admits, "I would give back every one of my trophies to still be coaching." The bulk of the memoir demonstrates why, with detailed recollections plumbing the depths of Summitt's investment in psychological tactics used to help players reach their potential and strategies executed in key games. The author is also quick to show her human side, exploring the drive her rural upbringing and tough-love father instilled in her, the pride she feels over having raised a son, her regret over the breakup of her marriage, her struggles with rheumatoid arthritis and her sense of accomplishment over the 100 percent graduation rate of her players. Frank on sensitive subjects like the inequities women athletes have had to face, Summitt also includes many humorous and touching anecdotes involving some of the biggest names in the women's game. The master of emotional jousting on the court speaks candidly of life challenges off of it--a must-read for basketball junkies, sport fans and any whose lives have been touched by incurable illness.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Pat Summitt was born Patricia Sue Head on June 14, 1952 in Clarksville, Tennessee. She graduated from the University of Tennessee at Martin in 1974 and became head coach at the University of Tennessee's flagship campus in Knoxville. She was a co-captain of the 1976 women's Olympic team, which won a silver medal, then was the head coach at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles, where the United States won a gold medal. As a head coach, she lead the University of Tennessee woman's team to eight national basketball championships and 1,098 victories, which is more games than any other Division I college coach, male or female.

She was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 1999 and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2000. In 2011, she learned she had early-onset Alzheimer's disease and retired as head coach in 2012. She started the Pat Summitt Foundation to raise awareness about dementia and find a cure for Alzheimer's. She received the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the 2012 ESPYs. Her memoir, Sum It Up written with Sally Jenkins, was published in 2013. She died on June 28, 2016 at the age of 64.

(Bowker Author Biography)