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Patches honoring Summitt

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Tributes to former Tennessee women’s basketball coach Pat Summitt in the season after her death are taking place at the program she built into a national power and on other campuses across the country.

Harvard, Kentucky, Vermont and Division II program Metropolitan State of Denver are among the women’s basketball teams that have joined Tennessee in wearing commemorative patches on their uniforms to honor one of their game’s greatest ambassadors . Summitt died June 28 at the age of 64 after battling early-onset dementia, Alzheimer’s type.

Vermont coach Chris Day said it was an obvious decision.

“To be honest with you... we all should be doing it,” Day said.

Summitt led Tennessee to eight national titles before stepping down in April 2012, one year after announcing her diagnosis. She spent the rest of her life leading the fight against Alzheimer’s through contributions that included the development of her foundation and the establishment of the Pat Summitt Alzheimer’s Clinic that opened last month at the University of Tennessee Medical Center. A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held Sunday.

Tennessee hosts No. 6 Notre Dame on Monday as part of the Southeastern Conference’s “We Back Pat” week that raises awareness of the Pat Summitt Foundation. As it has done for every home game, Tennessee will leave a chair on its bench vacant except for a strip of tape with the word “Summitt.”

“I have a tendency to look at the chair every once in a while,” said Tennessee coach Holly Warlick, who played for Summitt and worked as an assistant coach on her staff for 27 seasons. “It’s a visual for me just to understand where I am, what I’m doing and kind of what I’m doing it for.”

But the tributes to Summitt have extended far beyond Tennessee. Not only are a few schools wearing commemorative patches, but many high schools and colleges have conducted their own “We Back Pat” games to raise Alzheimer’s awareness.

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