There is no question that Pat Summitt richly deserves the honor of having the court at Thompson-Boling Assembly Center named for her. There is also no question that Ray Mears is equally deserving of the honor of having the arena named for him, too.

Summitt is the winningest basketball coach in history. She has won several national championships and brought great credit to The University of Tennessee. She is an icon in women's sports and deserves every accolade that comes her way. She will most likely set a record for wins that will never be broken by any coach in the game, assuming she continues to coach for as long as most everyone expects.

Women's basketball at Tennessee is one of the few programs in the nation that pays its own way. It even has enough left over to help pay for some of the other women's sports on campus. It will thrive with large crowds long after Summitt has retired. That is the legacy she leaves.

Were it not for Ray Mears, however, the arena would have never been built in the first place. It was his powerhouse men's teams that caused Stokely Athletic Center to be bursting at the seams with wild fans who clamored for a larger place to be built. Plans were on the drawing board to build a downtown arena on what became the site of The 1982 World's Fair when Mears and his top assistant, Stu Aberdeen, brought the Ernie and Bernie Show from New York City to Knoxville. No school in the SEC has ever had a more dynamic duo than Grunfeld and King. They propelled U.T. men's basketball into national prominence.

When Kentucky got the city of Lexington to build Rupp Arena for their program, Mears, always the showman and promoter, decided to try to one-up the Wildcats and build a bigger place for his Vols. Why not? After all, Mears was the only coach in America to have ever played U.K. to a draw, finishing his career 15-15 against them.

Mears came to Tennessee in 1962 after having won a national championship at Wittenberg University in Ohio. He won several SEC championships for the Vols, created a circus atmosphere with his pre-game drills that everyone came out early to watch, and never finished lower than third in the league. If the NCAA tournament field had been 64 teams as it is now during those days, Mears' teams would have qualified for the Big Dance every year he coached. No doubt he would have had the most tourney wins in U.T. history had that been the case.

Moreover, the mania known as "Big Orange Country" was a Mears creation, a takeoff on the Marlboro Country theme that did so well for the cigarette giant.

Former U.T. Football Coach Bill Battle, now a millionaire licensing agent for most major colleges, told Mears that he was absolutely entitled to royalties from that name. The 27,000 Big Orange seats that adorn Thompson-Boling Assembly Center are a testament to Mears' perseverance in promoting the school's colors.

Due to bad blood between Mears and former U.T. Athletics Director Doug Dickey, Mears was never given his due or much recognition at all once the arena was built. A room deep in the bowels of the edifice that is seen by no one other than media and a few donors, was named for him, and photos of some of his best teams were on display there, where the general public can't even get a glimpse of them anymore. Mears, who now suffers from diabetes and is recovering from a stroke, was given seats in the upper deck of the arena that he essentially built.

It is commendable that current U.T. Athletics Director Mike Hamilton has given Mears a good seat on press row now. That happened when Hamilton succeeded Dickey. However, it is long past time that the winningest coach in men's basketball history on The Hill be given an honor that has been due him for generations now.

Pat Summitt would not begrudge in the least sharing the spotlight with Mears. He was the coach of the men's team when she started her career at U.T. in the old Alumni Gym after graduating from UT-Martin. She knows what a privilege it became to be able to play first in Stokely Athletic Center and then in Thompson-Boling Assembly Center. She knows the men's program needs to have the court named after the best men's coach the Vols ever had to help new coach Bruce Pearl's recruiting efforts. She knows that a strong men's program that goes to the NCAA tournament annually and wins SEC championships helps keep her own program front and center in the media as well.

Ray Mears and his family have established a scholarship fund in his name to benefit U.T. It is a testimony to his dedication to the school that he made famous in basketball that he had "Big Orange" tattooed on his arm and used to drive a Mercedes with "Wizard of Orange" emblazoned on it. Mears bleeds orange more than anyone who has ever coached the men's team.

If new U.T. President John Petersen wants to do the right thing in getting the men's basketball program on the winning track again, he needs to step forward and get the arena named for the man that made it all possible. His legacy caused the legislature to appropriate the money to have it built in the first place. While he is still around to receive his just reward, the Volunteer Nation needs to step forward and return to him the honor he so richly deserves for the class and the standard that he established over 40 years ago.

Come watch the Volunteers play on Rocky Top at The Summitt at Ray Mears Arena at Thompson-Boling Assembly Center. It is an idea whose time has truly come.