John Shearer: Remembering Pat Summitt’s First Team Of 40 Years Ago

Earlier this month, three middle-aged women significant in University of Tennessee sports history wandered through the halls of the Alumni Memorial Building in Knoxville near Neyland Stadium.
 
They seemed a little confused, and perhaps disheartened, to realize that certain hallways no longer lead to the gymnasium, and that the old water fountain they drank out of after many a tough basketball practice is not there anymore.
 
But despite being lost due to the fact that the old former Alumni Gymnasium building has since been remodeled into an auditorium, they were still comforted knowing this was where they – and their young coach – found their way as a team.
 
The reason is that the three – Dianne Brady Fetzer, Joy Scruggs and Sue Thomas Martin – were members of the first UT team coached by Pat Summitt, who was then known as Pat Head.
 
Exactly 40 years ago this fall – in 1974 – the three were helping start the most glorious chapter in UT women’s sports history to date, even though they obviously did not realize it at the time.
 
They were simply reporting for basketball tryouts under a new and green coach, who had just graduated the spring before from UT-Martin. Eight national championships, thousands of fans at every home game, and national television appearances were still far off in the future.
 
“There’s no way we could have known” (coach Summitt would have such success), said Mrs. Fetzer. “We thought she was a good coach and we respected her, but how would we have known she was the best coach in women’s basketball?”
 
As the three reminisced about that first year from the patio of the soon-to-be-razed University Center after no place to sit down could be found in the Alumni Memorial Building, it quickly became evident that they came to UT in an atmosphere much different from that of today.
 
Then, women’s basketball at UT was still low-key and the players, in contrast to today, were generally little known outside the UT campus or their hometowns. The team was also known as the Volettes, not the Lady Vols.
 
Both Ms. Scruggs and Mrs. Fetzer were seniors during that 1974-75 year, while Mrs. Martin was a sophomore. Mrs. Fetzer was a point guard from Calhoun High in McMinn County and Hiwassee Junior College, who wanted to be able to handle the ball like Pete Maravich. Ms. Scruggs, who attended Brainerd before transferring to Cleveland High due to her father’s work, was also a guard. Mrs. Martin, meanwhile, played at the now-closed Everett High School in Maryville.
 
They had all been members of the program the year before, but that did not assure them a spot on the team in those days, they said. Coach Summitt had open tryouts, and about 100 attended – at least for a day or two.
 
Both the recent Coach Summitt memoir, “Sum It Up,” and the three former players pointed out that several did not like all the running Coach Summitt had them do, so they left, with some continuing running out the door during the running drills.
 
“She made us run our legs off,” said Mrs. Fetzer with a laugh.
 
Ms. Martin also remembers having to lift weights, and that Coach Summitt generally was tough from the beginning.
 
“Pat was a teacher,” Ms. Martin added. “She really explained things well and wanted you to do it right.”
 
And while they knew how hard the practices would be, they never knew how long they would last in those days before restricted practice times.
 
Those who stayed, though, enjoyed not only the reward of surviving a tough situation without quitting, but they also had another distinction when they did finally head out the doors of the gym – they had played for Coach Summitt.
 
“It’s our claim to fame,” said Mrs. Fetzer with a laugh. “Everywhere we go, people are so mesmerized we were on Pat Summitt’s first team.”
 
Prior to the interview, Mrs. Fetzer and Mrs. Martin dropped by to see Coach Summitt, who has mostly disappeared from the public eye following her Alzheimer’s Disease diagnosis.
 
“She is always happy we come,” Mrs. Martin said. “We had a good visit. We laughed and talked. She looked really good. She still works out.”
 
Ms. Scruggs, who did not get to see her this time, added that Coach Summitt always remembered her former players over the years whenever they would cross paths. While the other two went to visit her without a second thought, Ms. Scruggs said she is usually still a little intimidated around Coach Summitt, even though she loves her and admires her as the other two do.
 
“I found her to be imposing,” she said. “She’s a larger-than-life person.”
 
She did add, though, that Coach Summitt has always treated the players from her first team as well as those who reached NCAA Final Fours or won national championships.
 
Since Coach Summitt had played at UT-Martin the year before that 1974-75 season, one or two of the three remember seeing her at tournaments. Mrs. Fetzer even recalls her as the one who frosted her hair.
 
It was that same hair that would later often be dressed with confetti glitter after so many championship celebrations.
 
Even though Coach Summitt was just barely older than they were, they still respected her at that time. This was not only because of Coach Summitt’s demeanor, but also because that was the way people looked at those in charge at that time, they said.
 
“It wasn’t hard for us because we were the kind of people who respected an authority figure,” said Ms. Scruggs.
 
They said they could tell Coach Summitt had good basketball knowledge at the time after having already qualified to compete on a national women’s team. In 1974, women’s basketball at the college level was still often coached by a physical education faculty member, who was taking on the job simply as an additional assignment instead of out of any personal passion or career goal.
 
One misnomer at the time, however, was that Tennessee had no successful basketball tradition or that the program was basically just getting started. Actually, the team had finished 25-2 the year before under Margaret Hutson.
 
Ms. Hutson grew up in Chattanooga and attended the University of Chattanooga. After leaving UT, she received a doctorate at Ole Miss and later became a volleyball coach and founder of the sports medicine program at Emory and Henry College in Southwest Virginia, where she still lives.
 
Nobody had graduated from Coach Hutson’s last team, although leading rebounder Gloria Scott decided not to play on Coach Summitt’s first team, the three remembered.
 
Coach Summitt was supposed to be an assistant under Coach Hutson her first year while pursuing a master’s degree, but after her hiring, Coach Hutson left to pursue her doctorate. As a result, Coach Summitt was thrust into the head-coaching position.
 
Her assistants included future North Carolina coach Sylvia Rhyne Hatchell as freshmen coach, and future Charlotte athletic director Judy Rose as an assistant.
 
In the “Sum It Up” memoir by Sally Jenkins, Coach Summitt said she had an office at the top of Alumni Gym. Ms. Scruggs, who was a physical education student at the time, remembers that it was a room used by graduate students.
 
Alumni Memorial Gymnasium, which opened in the early 1930s, had enjoyed a rich history with UT men’s basketball and had actually hosted the SEC tournament in 1936, ‘37, ’39 and ’40 before the men’s tournament was discontinued for nearly 30 years.
 
However, the three recall that the facility by the 1970s had to be spruced up a little and was serving as a makeshift home for the Lady Vols/Volettes. Within a couple of years, when Mrs. Martin was finishing up her senior year, they would begin playing primarily in Stokely Athletics Center. The Alumni Gym was also serving as offices for the architecture school at the time, they recall.
 
But that gym would uniquely connect the pre-World War II days of UT basketball with the modern era, due to the fact that Coach Summitt walked the sidelines there for two-plus seasons.
 
Among the other misnomers of that first year or so that the three recall is that Coach Summitt did not actually have to do all the team’s laundry.
 
“We took our team uniform and washed it,” said Ms. Scruggs. “She may have later on, but not with us.”
 
And while the Alumni Gym crowd of 53 people – including former school President Andy Holt -- was not overly big for that first game against Mercer on Dec. 7, 1974 – an 84-83 loss – the team did have big crowds.
 
The three remember that the big rival at that time was Tennessee Tech – not Connecticut, Georgia, Kentucky or South Carolina. Some 2,000 people came to see the Lady Vols battle the Marynell Meadors-coached team at the Alumni Gym. UT lost a heartbreaker, 76-74, in early February, although it was much closer than the road loss to Tennessee Tech a few days earlier.
 
The three recall that some players from the higher-profile UT men’s team would come to their games that first year, and that they were not totally anonymous. People would recognize them on campus and know that they played for the women’s team, they said.
 
That first season of 16 wins and eight losses brought other memories of good wins, tough losses on the road and having long drives home, and Coach Summitt’s demanding demeanor that had them even running sprints at halftime of a game. But through it all, they generally grew as people while Coach Summitt grew as a coach.
 
There was even time for fun and laughs. Mrs. Fetzer remembered accidentally dribbling the ball into the court instead of throwing it in while Coach Summitt was shouting her some instruction.
 
And after one loss, Coach Summitt was informally breaking down the game and seeking input, and Mrs. Fetzer was bold enough to tell her coach they should have been in a zone defense instead of man-to-man.
 
After that first year of learning for all involved, Tennessee Lady Vols’ basketball would grow into the higher-profile sport it is now. This would be due both to Coach Summitt and the effects of the 1972 passage of the Title IX amendments.
 
The team would soon drop its Volettes name from that year, and eight national championships would follow for Coach Summitt before she stepped down after the 2011-12 year after being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease.
 
The program would show its first real sign of developing into a traditional power during Mrs. Martin’s senior year in 1976-77, after Coach Summitt convinced fellow national team player Trish Roberts to transfer to UT. The team finished 28-5 and was ranked fifth nationally.
 
But during that first year of 1974-75, the team was simply trying to lay a foundation. If the talent or results were not there like in later years, the players’ effort and Coach Summitt’s focus certainly were.
 
Mrs. Martin now teaches language arts and coaches basketball at Alcoa Middle School, while Mrs. Fetzer is a math teacher at Murray County High in North Georgia after teaching 30 years at McMinn County High in Athens.
 
Ms. Scruggs returned to Chattanooga and was a physical education teacher and head varsity basketball coach at Girls Preparatory School from 1977-81. She also coached golf, and led the team to a state championship.
 
She eventually coached basketball at Emory and Henry College for 28 years and still teaches health and human performance there.
 
Despite the years that have passed and the careers they have undertaken, they have certainly not forgotten those days of long ago playing on the first team of future coaching giant Pat Head Summitt.
 
“You are just proud to be a part of the family,” said Mrs. Martin.
 
Ms. Scruggs agrees.
 
“It was our good fortune, wasn’t it?” she asked with a smile.
 
To hear a brief audio interview with former player Dianne Brady Fetzer, click here.
 
To hear an interview with Sue Thomas Martin, click here.
 
To listen to an interview with Joy Scruggs, click here.
 
 
Jcshearer2@comcast.net