At some point, to the best of my memory, in the fog of the pandemic and working from home for long stretches of 2020 and 2021, an email arrived asking me to read the nomination bio of Pat Summitt for the U.S. Postal Service to create a stamp of the legendary head coach of Lady Vols basketball.

The instructions from an organization responsible for providing all information for a new stamp proposal were simple. Check for thoroughness and accuracy and keep all correspondence confidential. If the process moved forward – and I was told it could take years – I would be contacted again if any additional information was needed. I kept my mouth shut and the years passed. I occasionally thought about it and hoped it was still on track somewhere in the pipeline of new stamps. A trip to the post office always made me think about it when I looked at the new stamps for sale. I hoped to see a Pat Summitt sheet there one day.

Last spring on April 20, 2026, when I was approaching the finish line of covering the reconstruction of the Lady Vols basketball roster, an email arrived that said the stamp was likely to be issued in 2027 and asked if I could review the stamp art for accuracy. That got my attention in a sea of email to say the least. Once again, the confidentiality rule applied as all the details were still being determined. I agreed to help.

The image arrived April 21 via email, and I gasped. It was stunning as everyone can see now. The image used to create it was from the book cover of “Reach the Summit: The Definite Dozen System for Succeeding at Whatever You Do,” which was Summitt’s first book published in 1999.

Image provided by Summitt Mindset

The eyes were close but didn’t quite catch the right tint of blue, and her right hand holding the basketball needed an adjustment to the pinkie finger placement. I sent a cover shot by “The Torchbearer” in the fall of 2016, which was published a few months after Summitt died on June 16, 2016, that best captured Summitt’s eyes. An email arrived in May that the input was appreciated and would be incorporated. In August, an email arrived that the stamp was official, and the USPS would release the news later in 2026 or early 2027.

Through all of the correspondence, the information had to stay confidential, and I never told a soul, not even Tyler Summitt, who I knew had to be involved for the estate to grant permission for the use of Pat’s image. (I think I have established at this point that I can keep a secret.)

The news became official Nov. 9 with the release from the USPS, which also noted: Demanding, disciplined and fiercely competitive, Summitt pushed her players to excel on and off the court. Her success helped elevate women’s basketball nationally while raising expectations for how women athletes and their coaches should be supported. The stamp art features an oil-on-primed-linen portrait of Summitt created by Roberto Parada. Ethel Kessler, an art director for USPS, designed the stamp.

I contacted Tyler that evening to get his reaction to the news now that it could be discussed.

“I think sometimes we don’t realize what an impact Mom had beyond sports to people all across the country,” Tyler Summitt said. “It wasn’t because she ran a good triangle offense, or it wasn’t because she had a suffocating man-to-man defense. It was because of who she was, what she stood for, how she carried herself.

“I just think it’s so cool when she gets national recognition like this that is beyond sports.  I hope when people see it, they don’t just think about eight national championships. I hope they think about the person that she was and what she stood for.”

Tyler Summitt shows his children the Pat Summitt exhibit at the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame ono June 27, 2026. His oldest son, Breck, is at far right with Tyler, the second son is Rocky, far left, and Lakelyn, whose full name is Patricia Lakelyn Summitt, is in the middle. (Maria M. Cornelius photo)

Tyler had been approached in 2016 about the possibility of a stamp honoring his mother. The email came Aug. 23, 2016, five years later to the day his mother announced her diagnosis of early onset dementia before coaching one final season in 2011-12.

At the time, he was immersed in the grief of losing his mother just two months earlier, trying to manage her estate and talking to Disney and ABC’s Robin Roberts about a possible documentary about Pat Summitt that would require a lot of archival images and video. That ultimately made it to screens March 25, 2026, on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+ and then later on ESPN.

He circled back to the stamp, and the process continued forward. The USPS sent him a lengthy list of people to provide input for the nomination bio and stamp image – it included, as it should, Debby Jennings, who served Summitt for 35 years as her media relations chief and the Pat Summitt Foundation – and he noticed my name among them. A lot of people had to keep a secret for a long time.

“It reminds me of when she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s because a lot of people had to keep that secret for three solid months,” he said. “I know years is different. It’s a stamp, but when people around you will keep a secret, it shows the loyalty. Mom always talked about how loyalty had to be earned, and I think it’s really neat to see that loyalty lasts even beyond. It lasts more than a lifetime.

“I think it’s really neat that you, DJ, the foundation, me, we all were able to keep a secret, and now everybody gets to be surprised.”

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Maria M. Cornelius has worked in Knoxville media since 1988 and Lady Vols basketball since 1998. Author of “The Final Season: The Perseverance of Pat Summitt” and “The Legacy of Pat Summitt: Players, Colleagues, Family, and Friends Who Knew Her Best,” she covers Lady Vols sports for KnoxTNToday and 247Sports.