Former Tennessee women's basketball coach Pat Summitt, who coached her team last season depite being diagnosed last summer with early onset dementia, Alzheimer's type, received the 2012 Arthur Ashe Award.
Summitt retired as the all-time winningest coach in men's or women's college basketball with 1,098 victories. Among those wins were eight national championships and 38 years of service to the University of Tennessee.
Arthur Ashe Award
The Ashe Award is one of the most prestigious in sports. Recipients reflect the spirit of Arthur Ashe, possessing strength in the face of adversity, courage in the face of peril and the willingness to stand up for their beliefs no matter what the cost. The award is inspired by the life that Ashe lived, using his fame and stature to advocate for human rights, although, at the time, those positions may have been unpopular and were often controversial. From speaking out against apartheid in South Africa to revealing to the world his struggle with AIDS, Ashe never backed away from a difficult issue, even though doing so would have been easier. Winners of the Ashe Award strive to carry on Ashe's legacy in their own lives - - inspired by those who do so each day.
