Dan Fleser
Debby Jennings knows very well what her peers think of her career as a sports information director at the University of Tennessee. She was the publicist for the storied women’s basketball program for four decades. Her length of service combined with the program’s achievements conferred historian-like status. No wonder she’s a COSIDA Hall of Famer.
Receiving the Mary Jo Haverbeck Award, though, says more about what the media thinks of Jennings.
The meaning, while equally significant to her, bestows a different kind of respect.
“In my role as the media relations director and handling Lady Vols basketball, I had to say “no” sometimes,” Jennings said. “So, getting this award from the basketball writers themselves is so special. It was never always easy.”
The award, which was established in 2015, pays tribute to someone who embodies Haverbeck’s spirit in working with college basketball media. Jennings will receive the award this weekend at the Women’s Final Four in Minneapolis.
“The faces I see in my life are not only the players at Tennessee and the coaching staffs and what not but also all the writers, all the beat writers,” Jennings said. “My job was to help make your job easier and connecting everybody with the program.”
Full disclosure: I was the beat writer for the Knoxville News Sentinel for all but two seasons from 1988 until 2019. Jennings was as much a part of the program as any coach or player I chronicled. Michelle Voepel, who writes for ESPN.com, has referred to Jennings as an “institution.”
Haverbeck, who died in 2014, was the long-time sports information director for women’s basketball at Penn State. Jennings, who first met Haverbeck while working at the Olympic Sports Festival, said Haverbeck also dealt with legendary Nittany Lions football coach Joe Paterno.
“She was a really strong role model in the business and she fostered and nurtured a lot of young SIDs and mentored so many people who came up through the business,” Jennings said.
“She was tough but fair. She could handle the biggest personalities.”
Jennings’ career at Tennessee had the same trademarks. She essentially grew up with Pat Summitt, who evolved from a women’s basketball coach to a national figure during their time together. Summitt prioritized promoting and growing the women’s game, thereby giving more importance to Jennings and her work.
Jennings recalled opening up the Lady Vols’ locker room and allowing a television crew to enter and film during the AIAW Final Four in 1981. Jennings’ thinking was Pat didn’t curse and wouldn’t say anything inside a locker room that she wouldn’t say outside its doors. So, why not go for it.
“We were losing to Louisiana Tech; it was a tough locker room,” Jennings said. “But the offshoot of it was, when we got back from the Final Four, for several weeks the reaction from the fans. Men and women, they loved the look inside.”
When Summitt was named coach of the 1984 U.S. women’s Olympic team, the role afforded her and Jennings another opportunity for what amounted to branding before there was such a thing.
“The exposure she got and the number of writers we met leading up to the ’84 Olympics,” Jennings said, “I think it opened up so many opportunities for us to tell our story. It’s all about relationships.”
In the end, Summitt was an awareness advocate for Alzheimer’s disease. She coached her final season in 2011-12 after being diagnosed with early onset dementia. Jennings’ father had the disease and she leaned on her experiences with him in assisting Summitt.
“I could see when it was a good day,” Jennings said. “The days that weren’t good, there might not be access. When she had good days, it was important. She wanted people to see what it looks like.”
The final tally of players coached by Summitt reached 161. Jennings’ unofficial tally of graduate and student assistants was 83. Patrick Auerbach, who’s the associate senior VP for alumni relations at Southern California, joined the ranks in 1993, coming to Tennessee from UCLA to be a graduate assistant.
“The people at UCLA were like, ‘holy s---, how did you land that?’” Auerbach said. “I remember the reaction. Everyone in the athletic department at UCLA knew of Debby Jennings.”
Auerbach was student No. 18 in her lineage. He became part of her family, one of her children. They all did.
“She knew each of our strengths and allowed us to shine to make the whole department look good,” Auerbach said.
His first NCAA tournament coincided with the great blizzard of 1993, which knocked out power and shut down most of Knoxville on the day the tournament bracket was announced. Although he was from California, Auerbach was an avid skier. Therefore, he had tire chains in his car trunk.
Jennings’ makeshift plan was for him to deliver the bracket to Summitt’s house.
Jennings laughs at the memory. In her world, “mentoring” was a broad term.
“You can be the best writer in the room but if you don’t know how to tear the copier apart and fix it,” Jennings said. “We talked about those things.”
It’s now part of Jennings’ history.
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Dan Fleser is a 1980 graduate of the University of Missouri, who covered University of Tennessee athletics from 1988-2019. He can be reached at ddanfleser3@gmail.com.