The Spinderella Story, a snapshot of Pat Summitt from 1996

In our digital age, what does one do when you can't just click on a link and read an old story?

For those of us who wrote stories for Knoxville's upstart weekly MetroPulse between 1993 and 2014, we might possess hard copies of our favorite stories, but we can pass them along only in the form of crude pdfs or other jury-rigged mechanisms.

The passing of UT's legendary coach Pat Summitt brought this to mind.
     To this end, I present, scanned, a story from 1996.
     The photographs are by David Luttrell.
      The story was edited by Bill Dockery.
       It was easily my peak moment as a reporter when my former colleague, the great Gary Smith of Sports Illustrated, told me he would use some of this material in his definitive Summitt portrait in 1998.  (This was an extra boost since, in writing intense psychological profiles, I always emulate  Smith in both the level of reporting and in the search for insights.)
       But the main reason I look back on the story below is the privilege of experiencing a living legend and being lucky enough to see up close a tiny slice of what made her great.