The Pat Summitt Plaza was dedicated on November 21, 2013. Dave Hart, vice chancellor and director of athletics, indicated to the press in May 2013 that UT would honor Pat Summitt with a statue as part of the Lake Loudoun Boulevard Streetscape Project. In June 2013 UT released plans for the Pat Summitt Plaza, which includes a statue of Summitt. The plaza is located at the corner of Lake Loudoun Boulevard and Phillip Fulmer Way, across from Pratt Pavilion and Thompson-Boling Arena. The plaza features an eight-foot seven-inch bronze sculpture of Summitt created by Houston artist David Adickes and given by the LaPorte family of Elizabethton, Tennessee. The design team for the project included Carol R. Johnson Associates (architect of Record/Landscape Architect); Studio 4 Design Inc. (architect); Vaughn & Melton Consulting Engineers (civil engineer); I. C. Thomasson Associates Inc. (electrical engineer); and Chad Stewart & Associates (structural engineer.) Merit Construction was the contractor.
Construction was completed by East Tennessee subcontractors, and craftsmen spent nearly nine thousand man hours creating the landmark in a fast-tracked 70-calendar-day time frame that required working days, nights, and weekends. Over 550,000 pounds of concrete are within the feature wall of the plaza, with 43,000 pounds of reinforcing steel embedded within it. More than one million pounds of stone are behind the wall. The plaza surface is designed to emulate a basketball floor, and 3,900 pavers were installed to create the design. Laid end to end, the pavers would stretch 1.25 miles. Coach Summitt’s signature weighs approximately one thousand pounds. More than 1,500 plants were installed within the plaza and the adjacent landscaping.
The UT Athletics Department and the Tennessee Fund sought public contributions for the creation of the plaza. The lead gift was given by the Hilleary family in honor of Bill Hilleary, a community and business leader from Rhea County. More than 550 contributions were received. Donations of $1,000 or more received recognition on the plaza.