TAMPA, FL -- An unstoppable force.

A whirlwind of tenacity that sucked you into the eye of the storm.

And those eyes, that piercing blue stare.

In the late 80’s, Pat Summitt set her sights on Lakewood High’s Necole Tunsil , recruiting her to come to play for the Lady Vols in Tennessee.

“She was pulling for me to come there,” Tunsil said. “Tennessee had the tradition and I wanted to be a part of another type of tradition. I wanted to start a tradition.”

Tunsil ended up playing for another legendary coach Vivian Stringer at Iowa, but Pat Summitt left an impression. She was good at that. Pat left a lasting impression on Tampa.

Pat’s ties to Tampa run deep. She won her last National Championship with the Lady Vols in 2008, the first time the Women’s Final Four laid down roots in Tampa Bay. Before the start of that season, Pat flew to town, taking time out of her incredibly busy schedule to drum up support for the game she loved so much.

“Coach Summitt is the ultimate ambassador for women’s basketball and for sports, in and of itself as well,” Tampa Bay Sports Commission Executive Director Rob Higgins said. “So to have her here in advance of the Women’s Final Four, to help promote the Women’s Final Four was incredible. It’s something we’ll never forget.”

Pat’s determination to better the game was ingrained in the fiber of her being. You want determined, Pat went into labor with her son Tyler, but finished a recruiting visit with one of the top players in the nation before rushing off to the hospital. This Tennessee farm girl was equally determined to grow the game of women’s basketball as big as the men’s.

“She’s a pillar for women’s basketball,” Tunsil said. “We’ll never forget her. We’ll never forget what she’s done for women’s basketball.”

Women’s games on TV, thanks Pat. Larger coaching salaries, thanks Pat. A Women’s Final Four tournament with all the hype and hoopla of the men’s, thanks Pat.

“I just wish she could be here to see the impact that she’s made,” Winter Haven girls basketball head coach Johnnie Lawson said. “She started it all. She was tough. She was disciplined. I liked her because she had order and she had structure. Because if you don’t have that you don’t have anything in a program.”

Pat Summitt sadly passed away in 2016 after a battle with early-onset Alzheimer’s. She left this world a better place. She left the world of women’s basketball a better place. And Tampa is a big benefactor.

 “We just appreciate that legacy, that connection we have to Coach Summitt,” Higgins said. “She’s near and dear to our heart and we think about her all the time.”

Pat Summitt always said you win in life with people. Women’s basketball is a winner thanks to Pat.