KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Pat Summitt will be honored posthumously Thursday in the basketball arena where she orchestrated some of her greatest victories.
Some of Summitt's closest friends, family members and former players already gathered in Clarksville, Tennessee, for a private funeral June 30, two days after she died at the age of 64. Thursday's ceremony at Thompson-Boling Arena gives the public a chance to pay tribute to the former Tennessee women's basketball coach, who won eight national titles and 1,098 games in her 38-year tenure.
"This is for the fans as well as for her family and her friends," said Erin Freeman, who has been serving as a Summitt family spokeswoman.
The "Celebration of Life" service is open to the public and will start at 7 p.m. The event is expected to last about 90 minutes and will be streamed live on www.utsports.com andwww.patsummitt.org . It also is scheduled to be televised by ESPN2 and SEC Network.
This ceremony will take place at Thompson-Boling Arena, which served as Tennessee's home court for the vast majority of Summitt's coaching career and where a banner in her honor hangs from the rafters.
The Thompson-Boling Arena court on Tennessee's campus was named "The Summitt" in March 2005 during a surprise ceremony after a 75-54 NCAA Tournament triumph over Purdue that gave Summitt her 880th victory , allowing her to pass Dean Smith for the most career wins of any men's or women's college basketball coach. Summitt remains the Division I leader in that category.
"It's the right place to celebrate Pat -- the place (where) she gave all of us so much," former Tennessee women's athletic director Joan Cronan said. "To me, this celebration is really a gift to the fans from Pat. They need an opportunity to say thank you and to celebrate her life."
Freeman said the arena is expected to have about 19,000 seats available for the general public. If more than 19,000 people show up, fans will be seated on a first-come, first-serve basis and the overflow will get sent to the Cox Auditorium in the Alumni Memorial Building on Tennessee's campus.
Organizers of the event have been issuing reminders that although the ceremony is taking place on Tennessee's home court, it is a memorial service and shouldn't have the atmosphere of an athletic contest. Signs, large bags and flash photography of any kind are prohibited.
Summitt took over Tennessee's program in 1974 and remained in place until stepping down in 2012, one year after announcing she had early-onset dementia, Alzheimer's type.
Cronan expects Thursday's ceremony to include plenty of stories about Summitt's life on and off the court. Cronan also expected much attention to be given to the work Summitt did the last five years in launching the Pat Summitt Foundation to fight Alzheimer's disease.
"Pat's goal since she's been diagnosed with this disease was to be sure that people realized that she not only be remembered for winning basketball games but making a difference in this disease," Cronan said.
In the two weeks since her death, fans have paid tribute to the former Lady Volunteers coach by leaving flowers, cards, basketballs and other gifts at the foot of a bronze statue of Summitt, which is located in across the street from Thompson-Boling Arena. On the day after her death, about 100 fans gathered for a candlelight vigil at Pat Summitt Plaza, the area of campus that includes the statue.