Sports columnist and writer Sally Jenkins was among the many high profile guests at Pat Summitt's Celebration of Life Thursday.
Jenkins co-authored three books with the Lady Vols coaching legend. She said Pat wanted a celebration of her life more than any sort of grieving.
"She very specifically made her wishes known about what she wanted her memorial to be," Jenkins said. "She wanted it to be full of laughter, she wanted it to be full of passion, the same way she was."
Jenkins originally joined forces with Summitt as part of a business deal; the two only knew each other through lawyers.
"She was just so much fun and we had such a good time doing it that at the end of the first book, we were friends," Jenkins said. "It just seemed silly not to stay in touch."
Jenkins fondly recalled her favorite Pat Summitt memory, noting that Summitt "lived fast and drove fast."
"She was driving in the car one day down Alcoa Highway," Jenkins recalled. "She was putting on mascara in the rearview mirror, and I think talking on a speakerphone at the same time she was driving. She was steering with her knee. And I'm in the passenger seat just terrified.
"And I finally said, 'Pat, how do you do that? How do you multitask like that? And she just looked at me and said, 'It takes years of practice.'"