Former longtime Tennessee softball co-head coach Ralph Weekly was honored by the Greater Knoxville Sports Hall of Fame Thursday night, receiving the Pat Summitt Ignite Greatness Award at the 41st Annual Greater Knoxville Sports Hall of Fame Dinner & Induction Ceremony.
Weekly served Tennessee softball as co-head coach of the Lady Vols for 20 seasons alongside his wife and current head coach, Karen Weekly. Ralph’s coaching career spanned 35 years as he amassed 1,450 wins from 1986-2021, ranking fourth all-time among NCAA softball coaches.
“(Receiving this award) means everything to me, because I think Pat Summitt was one of the greatest coaches I have ever met,” Weekly said Thursday. “I met her up at the USOC when I was an Olympic coach for softball. For about a 12-year period or so, we would see each other. I never thought I’d get the opportunity to work with her. When we were first offered the job (at Tennessee), we spent an hour with her and were singing Rocky Top all the way back to Chattanooga … She was fantastic in every way.”
After announcing his retirement from coaching in June 2021, Ralph transitioned into a special advisor role for the Tennessee softball program. He is working to publish a book chronicling the history of softball in the Southeastern Conference.
The Lady Vols evolved into one of the nation’s premier programs during Ralph’s tenure at Tennessee. UT has reached the postseason every year since 2004, hosted 17-straight NCAA Regionals, advanced to 11 Super Regionals and made seven trips to the Women’s College World Series, placing in the top-3 on five occasions, including two national runner-up finishes.
Tennessee captured the 2007 SEC regular-season title under his stewardship and won the SEC Tournament title in 2006 and 2011. Ralph was named SEC Co-Coach of the Year with Karen in 2004 and 2007.
Ralph’s Tennessee players have earned 38 All-America recognitions, 93 All-SEC or SEC All-Freshman selections and 75 NFCA All-Region picks. The list of accolades also includes Monica Abbott and Madison Shipman being named Honda Award winners for softball in 2007 and 2014, respectively. Additionally, 14 Lady Vols have been selected in the National Pro Fastpitch Draft.
The Weekly’s told Extra Inning Softball’s Brentt Eads that the award last week was special because of how much they admired Coach Summitt and what she meant to them personally as well as professionally.
“Pat was a beloved friend and mentor to Ralph,” Karen said over the weekend, “and I know it touches him deeply to receive an award that bears her name. One of his greatest gifts as a coach was the ability to see in others what they may not see in themselves. His belief and confidence inspired his players to achieve their full potential. I was blessed to coach alongside him and am so proud to see him receive this honor.”
In addition to his time in collegiate softball, Ralph won a pair of gold medals with Team USA softball in the 1996 and 2000 Olympics. He also served as the Director of USA National Teams from 1999-2002, and coached Team USA in 15 international tournaments. His teams won gold medals in all 15 events, including four World Championships and two Pan-American championships.
Ralph also wrote the original High-Performance Plan for USA Softball Olympic Teams which allocated, for the first time ever, financial stipends for Team USA members to train and compete for Olympic and World softball championships.
A decorated military veteran, Ralph retired from the United State Air Force in 1986. He served as commander of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations at McChord Air Force Base in Washington state in his last duty assignment. He was awarded the Bronze Star and Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry for outstanding service in the Vietnam War.
The Pat Summitt Ignite Greatness Award was established in 2012 when the Greater Knoxville Sports Hall of Fame presented the award to its namesake, legendary coach Pat Summitt. To ignite greatness is to believe that every person has limitless potential that we must discover, ignite and foster. No one better exemplifies this idea than Summitt.
Past University of Tennessee recipients of the award include: Tamika Catchings (2013), Inky Johnson (2014), Jason Witten (2015), Eric Berry (2016), Gus Manning (2018), Peyton Manning (2019), Trey Smith (2020) and Michelle Marciniak (2021).
