Coach Pat Summitt, 5 Years Later

Legendary women’s college basketball coach Pat Summitt died five years ago today, but her humility continues to inspire leaders on the court and beyond.

Shortly after Summitt’s passing, current North Carolina Women’s Coach Courtney Banghart shared a powerful anecdote.

Banghart was in her second year as an assistant coach at Dartmouth when she encountered Summitt in the parking lot of the Wide World of Sports Complex at Disney World during a monsoon following an AAU event.

Summitt asked Banghart where her car was, and when Banghart told her she wasn’t sure, the legendary coach insisted they’d find it together.

“I was so embarrassed,” Banghart wrote. “She wouldn’t take no for an answer, so there I was — in the backseat of a black car with Pat (she had a driver), as we went aisle by aisle through the parking lot.”

They ultimately found the vehicle after Summitt, not Banghart, spotted the taillights.

The following year, the pair found themselves in the same room on the eve of another AAU tournament.

“I went over to say hi, to thank that hilarious hero of mine for saving me from the fiasco in Orlando,” Banghart wrote. “As we finished up dinner, I asked for the bill. The young server said, ‘The bill was taken care of by Coach Summitt. She told me to tell you, ‘Good luck finding your car.’”

In our leadership worlds, we encounter plenty of dictators, plenty of tyrants, plenty of people who don’t have a care in the world for our any of our problems.

They can easily make us cynical and jaded.  

But there’s a select few who are willing to go the extra mile regardless of how much it may inconvenience them. They never lose sight of the fact that another person’s struggles today could be theirs tomorrow, so they exhibit an empathy and compassion that’s unfortunately all too rare.

That was Summitt. She could’ve big-timed Banghart, quickly walked past her or snickered at the young coach’s problem.

But she didn’t. She went far out of her way to help her despite legendary status and Banghart’s relative anonymity at the time.

The best leaders are the ones who touch the most people, and the ones who touch the most people are the ones who go out of their way to assist.

When we’re presented an opportunity to do someone a favor this week, let’s make sure we take it, even if it slightly inconveniences us.

It may take a minute or two, but the memory for the other person could last a lifetime.