Knoxville author Maria M. Cornelius, who wrote “The Final Season: The Perseverance of Pat Summitt,” will hold a book signing Friday at Star Line Books in Chattanooga.
The event will be held from 4-6 p.m. at the downtown bookstore, at 1467 Market St., No. 106. The book is an inspirational account of Pat Summitt’s last season as head coach of the Lady Vols.
Ms. Cornelius, a writer and editor for Moxley Carmichael, began working on the book three years ago after signing a contract with The University of Tennessee Press. The book was released Oct. 1 and sold out the initial run of 4,000 copies, with a second printing underway. Star Line Books ordered its shipment from the initial run and has the book in stock.
“I signed the contract just a few weeks after joining the Moxley Carmichael team in September of 2013,” Ms. Cornelius said. “Company founder and CEO Cynthia Moxley and President Alan Carmichael, who are both former journalists, understood the significance of the book and have been incredibly supportive throughout this project.”
Coach Summitt was the winningest coach in the history of NCAA Division I basketball. With 1,098 victories and eight national championships, she established the Lady Vols as the top women’s athletics program in the country. She was diagnosed with early onset dementia in 2011 and coached her final season in 2011-12. Coach Summitt died June 28, 2016, at the age of 64.
In the book, Ms. Cornelius tells the story of Coach Summitt’s final coaching season through the eyes of those who knew her best – the coaches, players and support staff. Ms. Cornelius witnessed the season and traveled coast-to-coast to cover the team, including games against Rutgers in Piscataway, N.J., and Stanford in Palo Alto, Ca.
“The sustained ovation when Pat Summitt walked onto the courts – on opposite sides of the country and far from Knoxville – is something I will never forget,” Ms. Cornelius said. “You just took it all in and realized you were witnessing history, not just in women’s sports but all sports.”
Beginning with Coach Summitt’s diagnosis in 2011 and continuing through the final game of the 2011-12 season in Des Moines, Iowa, in the NCAA Tournament, the book offers readers a behind-the-scenes look at the conclusion of Coach Summitt’s coaching career, detailing how her diagnosis impacted Lady Vol players, staff and fans from the perspective of a sports writer who observed from the sidelines.
“We at Moxley Carmichael are incredibly proud of Maria and the commitment it took to complete this book,” Ms. Moxley said. “Because we both started in the newspaper industry in Knoxville, I have known Maria for nearly 30 years and when our firm needed a writer and editor, she was the first one I approached. This book shows everyone what our staff and clients already know – that Maria is a talented writer and superb editor.”
“The Final Season” features forewords by former Lady Vol Candace Parker and Mike Robinson, an editor for Swish Appeal, a national women’s basketball website. Ms. Parker shares the impact that Coach Summitt had on her life, while Mr. Robinson outlines how a mutual respect of Coach Summitt formed his friendship with Ms. Cornelius.
To learn more or to the order “The Final Season: The Perseverance of Pat Summitt,” visit www.utpress.org.
Ms. Cornelius has written about the Lady Vols basketball program since 1998 for local, regional and national media. A freelance writer for Inside Tennessee, Ms. Cornelius lives in Knoxville and continues to cover the program. She works full-time as a writer/editor for Moxley Carmichael.