Pat Summitt remembered as 'a pioneer, a legend' by Canadian coaches
Women's basketball icon put her sport on the map
For Ryerson University women's basketball coach Carly Clarke, Pat Summitt is never far away.
Summitt, who died Tuesday morning at the age of 64 after a battle with early onset dementia, is the winningest coach in the history of U.S. Division I college basketball and guided the University of Tennessee Lady Vols to eight national championships before retiring in 2012. She is universally credited with bringing the women's game out of the shadows and into the spotlight.
A signed copy of her seminal basketball book, Reach for the Summit, sits on the bookshelf in Clarke's office.
"Her numbers are truly spectacular. She is a pioneer, an icon, a legend," Clarke says. "I spent a lot of the morning reading about what she accomplished in her life and I think people are measuring the contributions far beyond the wins and losses. She changed the way women's basketball is coached and perceived in North America and around the world."
Clarke is one of countless young coaches touched by Summitt's influence.
"For me as a youngster wanting to get into coaching, her book was the first I read and I watched her programs have great success," Clarke says. "I saw her fierceness, her intensity, her competitiveness as a female head coach."
The book was given to Clarke by another legendary coach. Caroline Savoie, who died of cancer in 2014, guided the Canadian woman's national team and won 858 games as the head coach at Dalhousie University. Savoie also earned a PhD at the University of Tennessee and became friends with Summitt.
"Caroline shared a lot of [Summitt] stories with me," Clarke says.
Among the greats
Michele Belanger, who has been the women's basketball coach at the University of Toronto since 1979, marvels at Summitt's trailblazing ways.
"She brought notoriety and awareness to the women's game and women's coaches. She paved the way," Belanger says. "She was an equal with male counterparts, which is still unheard of. You just don't see that in today's world that a female coach is at the same level as a [Duke men's coach] Mike Krzyzewski, as a [former Indiana coach] Bobby Knight. All the greats of our time, she is in that category. She brought an opportunity for that equality."
Tenants of Summitt's basketball success can be seen in practices and huddles around the world, including at Ryerson. Clarke has enjoyed considerable success since being named the head coach there four years ago, including an appearance in this year's national championship game.
"Regardless of what someone could do on the court, she held them accountable to what they were supposed to be doing off the floor — making them better women and people once their basketball career is over," Clarke says. "That's something I bring to my coaching."
Both Belanger and Clarke would like to see Canada do a better job at developing strong female head coaches.
Belanger says in the U.S., there are more university programs with well-paid assistants who can one day aspire to be head coaches.
"We don't have the same opportunities for women that want to stay in the game and get paid for what they do in a manner that is going to sustain them — not a slight honourarium, but to make it more of a profession," Belanger laments. "They are doing a better job of that in the U.S."
Clarke agrees.
"It's a tough career to break into. There aren't that many full-time jobs, so there is a lot of volunteering. I moved three or four times before I was 27 to follow opportunities.
"We need to keep finding ways to engage and promote women in our sport so that we have more role models like Pat Summit."