Pat Summitt, the University of Tennessee’s legendary women’s basketball coach, was one of my biggest inspirations growing up.

I am not sure how I first got wind of her, but I was an active little tomboy who loved sports, especially sports in which women kicked butt — so it was inevitable that I would become aware of her achievements one way or another.

If you’re not familiar with Summitt’s prodigious resume, this is all you need to know: She is the winningest college basketball coach in history. Period. Over 38 seasons she racked up a 1,098-208 record, winning eight NCAA titles and multiple international-level medals along the way.

So I was truly stunned when Summitt died last month at age 64; she had revealed her diagnosis of early-onset dementia just five years ago.

I held the supremely naive notion that somehow she would never leave this world. How could we stand to lose someone so amazing, strong and determined in her life and career?

What drew me to Summitt wasn’t just the Lady Vols’ excellence; her intensity and her grit thrilled me. She had a stern, no-nonsense approach to coaching, and it worked. You could tell, however, that beneath the tough demeanor lay a heart bursting with care and respect for her players, the team and the program.

I also have always loved watching women take charge and show that they’re just as good as the guys, sometimes even better.

Once, when the University of Hawaii women’s basketball team was doing way better than its male counterpart, I got so incensed that TV stations kept leading off their sports coverage with the men’s team that I wrote to Neil Everett, then KGMB’s sports anchor, airing my frustration that the superior squad was constantly given short shrift.

To my surprise, not long after I mailed my letter, he dutifully changed his tune. It might have lasted only one night, but I was grateful and proud that I made a teeny-tiny difference.

My beef has always been, why treat male and female athletes differently? I don’t get what’s so great about men’s competitions that they always earn top billing. Women might be less flashy but they play with more finesse; I’ll take a women’s pro game over a dunk- or 3-point-athon on the men’s side any day.

I know this isn’t the case with all sports. We have the Williams sisters in tennis, for instance, and the U.S. women’s soccer team. But honestly, it’s difficult to think of other examples outside of the Olympics — the rare time when female athletes are treated with just as much, if not more, awe as the men. It remains a sad situation despite women like Summitt, whose talents transcended gender and basketball.

It’s unfortunate that sometimes it takes death to make us realize how much a person really meant to us.

“She Speaks” is a weekly column by women writers of the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Reach Celia Downes at cdownes@staradvertiser.com.