Wednesday, April 06, 2005

Special fan recalls Pat Summitt's very first game

On Sunday night in Indianapolis, Pat Summitt didn't have to sweep the floors or pull out the bleachers for the fans like she used to back in the early days of women's basketball.

The Henrietta, TN native, who did odd jobs in her early days as the coach at Tennessee, has brought women's basketball a long, long way. And her fans love her for it.

When the Lady Vols played in the NCAA tournament in Indianapolis last weekend, I was lucky enough to be there, along with Coach SUmmitt's many devoted fans.

Almost 29,000 people were on hand to watch the Lady Vols play Michigan St. in the NCAA Women's Final Four. Among those was a woman named Marge Price of Lenior City, Tennessee.

Dressed in a perfectly matched big orange outfit, 70-something Marge cheered juat as loudly as any young gun in the RCA Dome, just as she did back in January of 1974. You see, Marge Price was one of only 54 fans to attend Summitt's very first game as head coach at Tennessee.

"I've been to most since then," she told me.

The crowd Sunday night was 537 times larger than the one in '74, when Summitt picked up her first win against Middle Tennessee State.

Price has a perspective few have, and she has enjoyed following not only UT, but women's basketball in general.

Although she's now older than most of the Lady Vols' fans, her enthusiasm has never waned.

"It's great! Incredible!"

And even after the Lady Vols' heartbreaking loss to Michigan State, it's the loyal fans like Marge Price who insure that win or lose, the Lady Vols are always #1.

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