Ever since the University of Tennessee football team won the 1998 national championship, Alan Pressley's hand-built shadow boxes have created smiles and warmed hearts, especially for those whose blood runs UT orange.
Everyone from former Volunteers football coach Phillip Fulmer to retired Lady Vols coaching legend Pat Summitt to Austin Roden, one of our recent Best of Preps award winners for his courageous fight against cancer, has received one of Pressley's polished wood wonders filled with memorabilia, photographs and autographs.
And you can't beat the price for his fine craftsmanship.
"No money's ever exchanged hands," Pressley said the other night, chuckling. "But you have to have what I call 'Tennessee clout' to get one."
Because no one in the Volunteer State may ever have more clout than Summitt, Pressley received the thrill of his lifetime earlier this week when the Chattanooga resident's most recent creation - "I call them the 10-98 boxes," he said, referring to Summitt's 1,098 career victories - found its way into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville.
So when Summitt is honored at 3:30 this afternoon by having the Hall of Fame's south rotunda named for her, Pressley will be there, both humbled and heartened to again be in her expected presence to tip off the Hall's 17th induction weekend.
"This is such an honor," Pressley said when asked what it meant to have the 250th shadow box he has produced hang in the Hall. "That's really all I can say."
There understandably will be much said about Summitt today as she continues her uphill struggle against Alzheimer's. As her close friend and former UT women's athletic director Joan Cronan recently noted, "This has been in the works for three or four years. We've just been trying to come up with the right recognition for all Pat's contributed to women's basketball, not just at Tennessee, but nationally."
With apologies to the Hall, there really is no way to recognize properly what Summitt has meant to the women's game unless the entire Hall was named in her honor, as well as the NCAA championship trophy and anything else that has to do with the game she pretty much single-handedly made meaningful.
Had awful Alzheimer's not gotten in the way, Summitt probably should have risen to president of the NCAA, or maybe President of the United States, because no one in college sports ever put character, integrity, decency and academics above wins and losses better than Pat Head Summitt.
But because life threw her an absurdly cruel curve, she was forced to retire at the close of the 2012 season with those 1,098 wins, eight national championships and a 100 percent graduation rate among the student-athletes who completed their eligibility with the Lady Vols.
Nevertheless, Cronan said, "Pat's absolutely thrilled (with the naming of the rotunda). She's been such a guiding force behind all levels of women's basketball. She always looked out for what was good for the game, rather than just the Lady Vols. Even now, with this week's rules changes, I think she's quite pleased. I think she's always hoped the college rules would more closely mirror the international rules.
"I can tell you one thing - it was a unanimous decision by the (Hall of Fame) board to name the rotunda in her honor."
Part of the Hall's first class in 1999, Summitt almost certainly will give a unanimous thumbs up when this year's class is honored Saturday evening. From players such as Lisa Leslie, Janet Harris and Janeth Arcain to coaches such as Gail Goestenkors, Brad Smith and the late Kurt Budke, this group has both depth and star power, much like Summitt herself.
"We hope a lot of fans will be there," Cronan said of the rotunda ceremony. "We know how much they still love and support her. We feel like this will be a huge deal for the Hall of Fame."
It's certainly a huge deal for Pressley, who has felt Summitt's kindness and support since he first started handing out his shadow boxes to all those he believed exhibited "Tennessee clout."
"Sometimes I'd be up in Knoxville trying to find something for one of my boxes, and if I walked by her office I wouldn't say anything because I didn't want to bother her," Pressley said. "But if she happened to see me, she'd yell at me - and she's never been shy about raising her voice - 'Come here, Alan. Don't you ever walk by my office without saying something to me.'"
Now his latest shadow box will say something about Summitt's genius; the box's pictures, autograph and bold number 1,098 a crisp reminder of at least a small portion of her greatness to all who enter the Hall.
Said Cronan: "Alan's always done a marvelous job of capturing the traditions of Tennessee in his shadow boxes. To now have one in the Hall of Fame is very special."
Especially since it honors the most special person in the history of women's basketball.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com