After reading an excerpt "Sum it Up," the memoirs of legendary Tennessee women's basketball coach, Pat Summit -- 1,098 Victories, a Couple of Irrelevant Losses, and a Life in Perspective -- co-authored by Sally Jenkins, the Old Coach was moved. For anyone who follows college basketball, women's sports, or just enjoys reading Horatio Alger stories (rags to riches, for you young folks), the Summit book will give you a greater insight into the historic struggle for gender equity in athletics.
What makes the story of Pat Summit's life so compelling is that she came from a rural farm background in Clarksburg, Tenn., was an All-American player at the University of Tennessee-Martin, was captain of the first United States women's basketball team when that sport was added in the 1976 Olympics, and, at the age of 22, became the head coach of the University of Tennessee Volunteers, a position that she held for 38 years. During that span, her Lady Vols won eight NCAA championships, never had a losing record, and graduated every player. She is the winningest college basketball coach, male or female, in history. In 2012, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, to be added to her being named as the Naismith Basketball Coach of the Century in 2000. She was also named by The Sporting News as No. 11 in their 50 Greatest Coaches of All Time.
Sadly, at age 60, Summit developed early onset Alzheimer's disease, which forced her to retire after the 2011-12 season. Her legacy continues to grow, however, as 19 of her former players or coaching assistants have gone on to coach at the college level.
Reading about Summit's days as a high school and college player brought back some of my own memories of what sports were like in the 1960s and 70s. I can relate to playing basketball in matchbox gyms when a driving layup sometimes ended with a crash into the wall and too much arch on a jump shot could damage the ceiling tiles. Our practice football field and stadium at Annapolis High was a reclaimed landfill site that still had bits of glass in the dirt. Today's players enjoy the luxury of artificial turf and state-of-the-art facilities.
Although, unlike Summit's UT-Martin basketball team, none of the Shepherd College football teams that I played for had to sleep on the gym floor when we visited for an away game, I remember that our travel arrangements were far from first class. Twice we flew to far-off southern West Virginia for games against West Virginia Tech and Concord College on an Appalachian Airlines salvaged DC-1. We landed on a sawed-off mountain top that left no margin for error, unloaded our gear, and then had a bumpy bus ride to arrive at our destination just 15 minutes before game time. Just enough time to get dressed and go out on the field to get thumped 67-18, dress, and hop on the plane for the return traumatic flight.
Once, when we traveled by bus to Cleveland for a game, we pulled off onto the shoulder of the interstate and got off the bus to stretch our legs and enjoy the peanut butter and jelly boxed lunches provided by our cafeteria dieticians. Apparently, they hadn't done much research on pre-game meals. It was good that we stopped so that our good luck charm manager/mascot, who hadn't been included in our travel list, was retrieved from the bus's luggage compartment where he had him stowed away. Luckily, he wasn't asphyxiated by the fumes.
On another occasion, our team bus had to make the ascent over one of Pennsylvania's steep mountains, only to have the engine die a quarter mile from the top. Everyone exited the bus, grabbed all of our equipment, and walked to the top. The bus, thousands of pounds lighter, was able to sputter and inch its way to join us, and we loaded up and were on our way.
The point of this "Coach's Corner" column is that maybe today's athletes are spoiled by all the glamour and glitz of modern-day elite sports programs, where prestigious high school teams fly cross-country to play in games that are telecast on ESPN. Every signing of a high school recruit who has chosen some lucky university has his/her name appear on a rolling line on all the TV screens, trumpeting his/her fame and fortune. College players have tutors (and nowadays lawyers) provided to make sure that they can stay eligible or out of jail. Pro players have private eyes assigned by the club owner to make sure that the player can get to the team meeting on time or doesn't get shot in a nightclub the night before a game.
The Old Coach likes to think that what happened in Pat Summit's early days was closer to the way athletics were meant to be. You endured personal sacrifice and hardship. You appreciated the privilege of being able to play a game, not for fame and fortune, but for love of the game. You coached, not for the recognition and honors you might receive along the way, but because you could affect young lives in a positive way.
Slicing, hooking, even whiffing on the ball and picking up large chunks of turf can lead a golfer to fits, tantrums and hours spent correcting mechanics at the driving range. Hundreds, even thousands of dollars can be spent on some of golf’s finer points.
So, it’s no surprise that a niche industry has cropped up successfully alongside the sport.
An array of tools, manuals and other aids have been dedicated to the tempo of a swing, the short game, alignment and nearly anything else that might help players shave strokes off their game.
Ken Zuzik of Canfield and his son Matt, a graduate of Ohio State University who now works as a pharmacist in Florida, think they might have a place in that niche industry with a product that could impact golfers everywhere.
“I was taking lessons with a pro and, he told me to hit balls out to my target,” Zuzik, who has played the game since he was about 12, recently recalled.
Zuzik’s instructor asked him where he thought he was aiming. Zuzik naturally replied at the hole. But it turned out he was far left of his target. In this case, Zuzik’s swing was not at fault for landing the ball to the left of the green, but rather it was his alignment.
“He straightened me all out, and it felt really awkward,” Zuzik said. “I went home that night and I was looking at my kitchen floor, thinking if I lined up with these square tiles, I’d be all set — that’s how it all got started.”
It was about 31/2 years ago when Zuzik began tinkering around with an assortment of pipes, wood and dowels to mimic those squares on the kitchen floor, envisioning an alignment tool that might translate to a real course where golfers could easily pack it away in their bags as another convenient tool to help their game.
He began communicating with his son about his ideas. They soon began shipping various objects back and forth to hammer out a solid concept.
What began as a do-it-yourself project in the hands of Zuzik, a builder and developer by day, was slowly becoming a viable commercial product, as Zuzik and his son put their minds and passion into what they once called the “Golf Square.”
All at once though, the name was no longer an option. It already was trademarked under a very different product.
In January, when Zuzik and his son decided to display their square at the 2013 PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando, Fla., one of the largest events in the industry that featured more than 1,000 vendors.
The product won Most Innovative Concept, sending a wave of potential investors, distributors, manufacturers and merchandisers to Zuzik’s door.
“That’s when we decided this was for real,” Zuzik said. “We must have talked to 200 people at the expo. It’s one of the largest trade shows in the world. We’ve been approached by a guy from Ireland who lives in China and another guy from Germany. They want to be our distributors.”
Even if the square became an overnight success, designing, manufacturing and getting a product to market is no easy task.
Zuzik said the tool is about 80 percent complete, and he already has traveled to Canada to meet with a firm about mass-producing it for stores and pro shops.
Essentially, the alignment square is made of plastic. It measures 1 inch square, by 40 inches long. It includes four rods. The bottom one adjusts to accommodate a shorter stance for irons and a longer stance for drivers. The square is retractable as well so it can fit in a golfer’s bag.
The square quantifies a player’s alignment, which means a number is set to a golfer’s stance. Three measurements are visible on the rods to track how far away the player stands from the ball, the width of the player’s stance and where the ball is placed. The square is pointed at the target and the golfer is aligned.
“The most-common golf aids in the world are alignment rods,” Zuzik said. “If you go to a pro to get instruction, they’ll line you up with these alignment rods. Instead of two rods, we’ve made it into one apparatus and given you more features, rather than just fixing your aim.”
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