There were many recurring themes when describing Pat Summitt Thursday night at her celebration of life ceremony.

The first was friend.

It wasn’t just that Coach Summitt was a friend to the Lady Vols or even her family. It was that she was a friend to all. 

Former Vol quarterback Peyton Manning, who was one of the eight speakers at Thursday’s memorial, said that he spoke to former Lady Vol Chamique Holdsclaw at Summitt’s funeral. Holdsclaw told him that whenever he would come on the television, Summitt would point to him and say “That’s my friend.”

“And in saying goodbye for the last time, we can all say ‘There goes our friend,’” Manning said.

Tyler Summitt said that his mother had three hearts: the heart of a mother, the heart of God and the heart of a friend. 

“She wanted to help everyone, no matter the rules.” Tyler Summitt said. 

Laughs and tears were shed as former players, coaches and friends told stories about their experiences with Coach Summitt. Current Lady Vol head coach and former Summitt assistant Holly Warlick described the time that Summitt got out of a speeding ticket by “leaving her purse in the trunk” and, when she went to go get it out after being pulled over, there “just so happened to be half a dozen basketballs signed by Pat Summitt” in the trunk.

Mickie DeMoss, friend and former assistant of Summitt, reminisced on the time that she and Summitt were sitting in a diner in Florida and the people at a table across the room kept muttering and looking at Summitt. Interested to see what all the fuss was about, DeMoss said that Summitt stood up and asked all the members of the table how they were doing, to which they replied that Summitt “looked familiar.”

DeMoss said that the table later asked Summitt if she “worked at Ace Hardware.”

Summitt was a part of the Lady Vol family and always took time to sign autographs and talk with fans, even if it was to get out of a ticket for her constant speeding.

Former Lady Vol and current member of the WNBA Indiana Fever Tamika Catchings said that Summitt meant the world to her.

“You were our mother, our friend, our inspiration, our angel,” Catchings said. “Thank you for being a faithful servent in all that you did … This is not a ‘goodbye’, but an ‘until we meet again.’ Thank you Pat. For everything.”

Pat Summitt “literally changed history,” Manning said and was monumental to women’s basketball and sports and the world in general.

Former Lady Vol point guard and speaker at the event Shelley Sexton-Collier said that when her husband one day asked Summitt how she keeps going, she responded with, “Left foot, Right foot, Breathe, Repeat.” 

Summitt left behind not only her legacy as an incredible basketball coach but the legacy of a friend, of family and of an icon.

“What people talk about in the end is not how many games she won but what she did for people,” DeMoss said.