Patricia Head Summitt

Over the next two decades, Summit modeled her basketball empire after her father's example of steady, disciplined guidance. She demands a lot—players must sit in the first three rows of the classroom, and if they skip a class, they're benched. On the court, she demands even more, and though playing for Summitt is tough, her players concede she changes their lives in positive ways.

"She makes you feel there's nothing to be afraid of in life," Michelle Marciniak, Most Valuable Player of the 1996 Final Four for the champion Lady Vols, told Sports Illustrated. "If you want something, you go after it as hard as you can, and you make no excuses."

Summitt's methods have worked. Her teams have won six NCAA titles (1987, 1989, 1991, 1996, 1997, 1998). Her 1997-98 squad had a perfect season of 39-0, and won the NCAA championship. Summitt has also produced 11 Olympians and 16 Kodak All-Americans. At the end of the 2001-2002 basketball season, Summitt had a phenomenal collegiate record of 788-158, a win percentage of .833. Win No. 800 came on January 14, 2003, a 76-57 victory over DePaul at home. Under her direction, the Vols have also captured 21 Southeastern Conference tournament and regular-season championships. She also coached the 1984 women's U.S. Olympic basketball team to its first gold.

Along the way, Summitt also found time for a family. She married banker R.B. Summitt in 1980. A decade later, she gave birth to Ross Tyler Summitt, a fixture alongside the Lady Vols' bench. Summitt's son, incidentally, was almost born in an airplane because even though Summitt was in labor, she insisted on making a recruiting visit to Pennsylvania because she feared losing an All-American to Notre Dame.