Summitt won a silver medal at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal as a member of the United States women's national basketball team.

Summitt grew up on a dairy farm and began playing basketball when she was six years old, on a hoop her father had installed in a barn.

[4][5] When Summitt was in high school, her family moved to nearby Henrietta so she could play basketball in Cheatham County, because Clarksville did not have a girls team.

[6] From there, Summitt went to the University of Tennessee at Martin, where she won All-American honors playing for UT–Martin's first women's basketball coach, Nadine Gearin.

[15] The Lady Vols won the Tennessee College Women's Sports Federation (TCWSF) Eastern District Championship for the third straight year.

However, the team finished 4th overall in the TCWSF (they had been second the previous two years), and were not invited to the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) tournament.

[16] In her second season, Summitt coached the Lady Vols to a 16–11 record while earning her 1976 master's degree in physical education and training as the co-captain of the 1976 U.S. Women's Olympic basketball team that won a silver medal in Montreal.

In the national semifinals, the Lady Vols beat Stanford, 68–60, to earn the chance to avenge the previous year's tournament loss against Virginia.

The next season in 1991–92, the Lady Vols did not make it to the regional championship, falling 75–70 to the same Western Kentucky team they had beaten in that round the previous year.

[30] In 1995–96, with freshman Holdsclaw and senior Michelle M. Marciniak, the Lady Vols won the SEC tournament and made a second straight Final Four trip.

In the semifinals, the Lady Vols avenged the previous year's tournament loss to UConn by ousting Auriemma and the Huskies with a hard-fought 5-point win in overtime.

In addition to losses to powerhouses such as Louisiana Tech (twice), Stanford, Old Dominion, and Connecticut, Tennessee fell to teams such as Florida, against whom they had been previously undefeated.

[22] Summitt and the 1996–97 championship team were the subject of an HBO documentary titled A Cinderella Season: The Lady Vols Fight Back.

[34] After the championship game, opposing Louisiana Tech head coach Leon Balmore proclaimed the Tennessee team to be the "best ever",[35] echoing a similar claim made by Old Dominion University Hall of Famer Nancy Lieberman.

A landmark was set during this season however, as Holdsclaw, Tamika Catchings, and Semeka Randall became the first trio from one team to be named Kodak All-Americans.

The Lady Vols defeated most of their regular season opponents, including Duke and Louisiana Tech, but dropped games to UConn and Texas.

Tennessee suffered losses during the regular season to Duke, Rutgers, and LSU, while beating Stanford and Louisiana Tech.

In the NCAA tournament, Tennessee advanced to its fourth Final Four in a row by defeating a Rutgers team that had beaten them earlier in the year.

[48] During the season, Summitt appeared at a men's basketball game dressed in a cheerleader outfit and led the crowd in a rendition of "Rocky Top" to show her support for the team.

A month earlier, her men's counterpart, Bruce Pearl, showed up at a Lady Vols game in orange body paint.

[51] After two more wins, top-ranked Tennessee knocked off fourth-ranked North Carolina, 83–79, in a rematch of the previous year's Final Four match-up.

Candace Parker's 17 points and 12 rebounds, including a bucket with 22 seconds remaining, helped the Lady Vols defeat the Blue Devils for the first time in four years, 67–64.

[59] Despite the diagnosis, she completed the 2011–2012 season in a reduced role, with Holly Warlick (an assistant under Summitt since 1985) assuming most of the coaching responsibilities.

[67] According to NCAA regulations, as head coach emeritus, she was able to attend practices and assist Warlick in some duties, but was not allowed to sit on the team bench.

After winning the gold medal in 1963, the USA team lost to Brazil in both 1967 and 1971 and had recently competed in the 1975 World Championship, finishing in eighth place.

[72] Summitt was named the head coach of the USA representative to the William Jones Cup competition in Taipei, Taiwan.

[73] Summitt was chosen as the head coach of the team representing the USA in 1984 at the William Jones Cup competition in Taipei, Taiwan.

[74] Summitt wrote three books, all with co-author Sally Jenkins: Reach for the Summitt, which is part motivational book and part biography; Raise the Roof, about the Lady Vols' 1997–1998 undefeated and NCAA-championship winning season; and Sum It Up, covering her life and her experience being diagnosed and living with Alzheimer's disease.

[92] Summitt died on June 28, 2016, two weeks after her 64th birthday, at a senior living facility in Knoxville where she crocheted and did many other hobbies in her free time.

[94] After her death, the Pat Summitt Alzheimer's Clinic was opened at the University of Tennessee Medical Center, with funds from her Foundation.