Nancy Lieberman pays tribute to Olympic teammate Pat Summitt
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Basketball Hall of Famer Nancy Lieberman paid tribute to 1976 Olympics teammate Pat Summitt on the Dan Patrick show and praised Summitt's character as a person and basketball legend.
Summitt passed away at the age of 64 after a battle with Alzheimer’s disease.
“They called me Saturday and said you need to get out here. And I booked a flight Sunday to go to Knoxville. And then they called me Sunday night and said, Nancy you can’t come out here,” Lieberman said. “You know hospice is saying every body has to leave because Pat won’t go. Pat refuses to die because she knows so many people are wanting to see her. And it’s just Arby, and Tyler and Ms. Hazel, her mother. And she just needed to be by herself and here she is finally found some peace. But you know I love the lady.”
Summitt rehabbed from a torn ACL as a senior at Tennessee-Martin in order to make the Olympics, where she served as a co-captain. The U.S. lost to the Soviet Union in the gold-medal game but Lieberman made history as the youngest basketball player in Olympic history to win a medal at just 18 years old. Lieberman is now an assistant coach with the Sacramento Kings.
• WOLFF: Pat Summitt's legacy of empowering women
During her 38-year career as the head coach of the Tennessee Lady Vols, Summitt amassed 1,098 wins, the most ever for a college basketball coach.
