The month of August energized Tennessee women’s sports fans, first with the official rollout of a revamped Lady Vol Boost (HER) Club and then the unveiling of “Summitt Legacy” blue uniforms for soccer, volleyball, basketball and softball.
To start the month, Tennessee supporters gathered at The Walnut Kitchen in Maryville to listen to a panel of athletes – basketball players Tamari Key, Sara Puckett and Jordan Walker and softball pitcher Ashley Rogers – extol the benefits of being able to connect with fans though the Boost (HER) Club, which will provide exclusive experiences for members.
Among those in attendance were Debby Jennings, the longtime and now retired media relations chief for the late Pat Summitt; R.B. Summitt, former husband of Summitt; Beth Bass, former and longtime CEO of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association; and major boosters and supporters who had originally endowed scholarships for Lady Vol sports more than 35 years ago. Several of those attendees remembered the old Boost (HER) Club, which Jennings helped form in 1979 with Summitt as a way for fans to support women’s sports.
It dissolved in 2012 after Summitt was forced into retirement by Alzheimer’s disease, and the women’s and men’s athletics department merged, creating the umbrella of the Tennessee Fund instead of a separate way to donate to women’s sports.
The 2022 version is a way to directly benefit the athletes though the new name, image and likeness (NIL) rules and provide fans with new ways to connect with players, including bowling, painting, squaring off on the court or field, driving golf balls or attending a sports camp for adults.
The membership-based club, which is overseen by a board of directors that includes Orange Mountain Designs store founder Terri Holder, boosters and former Lady Vols, has a website with various options to join with monthly or annual donations that is available here.
The Lady Vol Boost (HER) Club will cover all nine women’s sports to provide NIL opportunities for female athletes and include community service initiatives, too, such as events held over the summer that benefited Knox Youth Sports, Alex’s Lemonade Stand, which raises money for pediatric cancer research, and Maryville Little League.
On July 21, 2021, the recruiting landscaped changed literally overnight when the NCAA allowed athletes to earn money off their name, image and likeness. While the old Boost (HER) Club was affiliated with UT, the new club is a separate entity – thus allowing the various paid experiences with athletes – and works in cooperation with the university to meet all compliance and NIL rules. Katheryn “Kat” Jones, who recently became UT Athletics director of name, image and likeness, also attended the meeting.
“Donations are critically important to help compete at the highest level of collegiate athletics,” an informational brochure noted. “The Lady Vol Boost (HER) Club doesn’t directly benefit the athletic department but instead the student-athletes themselves. This source of NIL funding helps Lady Vol athletes remain competitive with offerings and benefits at peer institutions.”
Here’s the shorter version from someone who has written about sports for 35 years: Figure out NIL or get left behind in recruiting.
I signed up as a club member because I was a walk-on softball player at Winthrop College – it’s a university now – in 1980-81. I want to stand in the batter’s box and see if I can even see Rogers’ rising fastball as it whizzes by me. (I moderated the panel at The Walnut Kitchen, which donated the space, and asked Rogers to please not hit me. She promised not to.)
The brochure also quotes Summitt: “The future belongs to those who see possibilities before they become obvious.”
That leads into the new blue look for the Lady Vols, which has its own Pantone color of 2171 C and is now known by UT as Summitt Blue. (Tennessee Orange is PMS 151, and a rather astonishing number of fans can rattle it off easily. The PMS stands for Pantone Matching System. Time to practice PMS 2171.)
“Tennessee’s history as a worldwide leader in women’s athletics, along with the Lady Vols’ unique legacy of excellence are traditions we are proud to celebrate,” Tennessee Vice Chancellor/Director of Athletics Danny White said when making the announcement. “As some of our teams recently saw their new Summitt Blue uniforms for the first time, they reacted with a joy and enthusiasm that I hope will extend to our fans and proud alumni.”
Here’s the shorter version of that quote. White gets it.
He knows the blue accent color – and also the Lady Vol logo – is an established brand that strongly resonates with fans. (I wrote about that here. One of the comments was about adding more blue back to the uniforms.)
Of greater significance is that the jerseys also will be worn by players in sports besides basketball. Videos posted on social media showed the soccer players’ reaction of screaming when the jerseys were unveiled.
Legacy Pat Summitt T-shirt at Orange Mountain Designs
“Incredible,” soccer head coach Joe Kirt said. “Obviously, (it’s) honoring the legacy of not only what we’ve built here at Tennessee, and certainly, ‘we’ being Coach Summitt and Joan (Cronan), but also what other women have done across the country since Title IX. The opportunities that our players now have because of them, it’s just a way we can honor what’s been done before them. We couldn’t be more excited to wear that this fall.”
It’s been a good month for women’s sports fans. And Summitt’s legacy, as it should, lives in perpetuity.
Maria M. Cornelius, a writer/editor at Moxley Carmichael since 2013, began writing about the Lady Vols in 1998. In 2016, she published her first book, “The Final Season: The Perseverance of Pat Summitt,” through The University of Tennessee Press. She can be reached at mmcornelius23@gmail.com.