Who is Patricia Sue Head?

Who is Patricia Sue Head? The college basketball world knows her as Pat Summitt . Summit is an American women's college basketball coach. She is currently the head coach of the Tennessee Lady Vols basketball team. She has been coaching since 1974, all with the Lady Vols, winning 8 national championships. She is the all-time winningest coach in NCAA basketball history, men or women in any division, and one of only three collegiate coaches with 1,000 victories (Gene Bess of Three Rivers Community College and Harry Statham of McKendree University being the other two).

She has written two books (with the help of Sally Jenkins), Reach for the Summitt (part motivational book, part biography) and Raise the Roof (about the Lady Vols' undefeated season in 1997–1998, in which they won the Women's NCAA championship).

Patricia Sue Head was born on June 14, 1952 in Clarksville, Tennessee. When Pat was high-school age, her family moved to nearby Henrietta, so she could play basketball in Cheatham County since Clarksville did not have girls teams due to an accident. According to Summitt, a Clarksville player ran into a wall during a game and lost her life, resulting in the cancellation of the girls' basketball program. From there she went to University of Tennessee–Martin, where she won All-American honors, playing under the coaching of UT–Martin's first women's basketball coach, Nadine Gearin. She would later co-captain the first United States women's national basketball team as a player at the inaugural tournament at the 1976 Summer Olympics, winning the silver medal.

She has four siblings: older brothers Tommy, Charles and Kenneth, and younger sister Linda.

She married R. B. Summitt in 1980, and the two filed for divorce in 2007. They have one son, Ross Tyler Summitt (b. 1990), a Tennessee student and member of the Lady Vols' practice squad, who hopes to also coach basketball. During the 1990–91 season, baby Tyler was passed around the Lady Vols team as a pre-game ritual.

In the 1974–75 season, Pat Head became a graduate assistant at the University of Tennessee, and was named head coach of the Lady Vols basketball team, who were 25–2 the previous year. She earned her masters degree in physical education in 1976.

Pat Summit coached her first game on December 7, 1974 against Mercer University in Macon, Georgia; the Lady Vols lost 84-83. Her first win came almost a month later when the Lady Vols defeated Middle Tennessee State, 69-32 on January 10, 1975. Nonetheless, the Lady Vols won the TCWSF Eastern District Championship for the third straight year. However, the team finished only 4th overall in the TCWSF (they had been 2nd the previous two years), and were not invited to the AIAW. After finishing 16–11 her second season, Pat directed two 20-win teams, winning back-to-back AIAW Region-II championships. 1976 also included the Lady Vols defeating 3-time AIAW champion Delta State by 20, and Tennessee's first number one ranking. 1978 saw the Lady Vols participate in their first AIAW Final Four, where they finished 3rd. Pat also recorded her 100th win during this season, a 79–66 victory over NC State. Tennessee finished up the 70s by winning the first ever SEC tournament, and returning to the Final Four, where they finished runner-up to Old Dominion, 68–53.

During the 1980-81 season, the Lady Vols went 25-6, and avenged their championship game loss to Old Dominion by defeating them three times. The team made it to the AIAW Final Four for the third straight year; finished runner-up for the second consecutive year, losing to Louisiana Tech, 79-59.

The 1981-82 season featured the first ever NCAA Women's basketball tournament. The Lady Vols were one of 32 teams invited and named a 2 seed in their region. In the region championship, the Lady Vols upset first seeded USC 91-90 in overtime to advance to the Final Four. They lost their Final Four match-up with Louisiana Tech who ended up winning the tournament.

The next season, the Lady Vols won the regular season SEC title but fell in the SEC tournament to Georgia. Tennessee was invited to the now-36 team NCAA tournament and was given their first ever 1 seed. Tennessee made it to the regional championship, but fell to Georgia again, 67-63.Summitt won her 200th game on December 3, a 69-56 victory over St. John's during the Coca-Cola Classic in Detroit.

The 1983-84 season saw Tennessee start out poorly, 6-4. However, Summitt got her team together and finished 22-10, for her 8th straight twenty-win season, a streak that is still active. Tennessee not only made it to the NCAA Final Four for the second time out of the three tournaments, but also made it to the title game. However, Tennessee lost by 11 to USC who had also won the title the previous year. Pat Summitt earned Coach of the Year honors. This season was followed up by another twenty win year in which Tennessee earned both the regular season SEC title (despite only going 4-4) and the tournament title. However, the Lady Vols fell in the NCAA Tournament to Ole Miss during the Round of 16. The next season was a similar story - The Lady Vols had a decent regular season, played a great tournament (reaching the Final Four for the second time in three years), but fell before winning the title.

In 1986-87, after years of trying, the Lady Vols finally broke through and defeated perennial power Louisiana Tech for their first title, 67-44. Louisiana had defeated the Lady Vols by 12 earlier in the season. Tennessee's Tonya Edwards earned the honor of Most Outstanding Player in the Final Four. During this season, Summitt also earned her 300th win, an 87-66 victory over North Carolina. The next year, the Lady Vols were poised to repeat as the third-ranked and top seeded Tennessee made it to the Final Four yet again. However, Louisiana Tech avenged their championship loss with a nine point win and went on to win the title.

In 1988-89, the Lady Vols made it to the Final Four for the fourth straight year, and as a one seed for the second straight year. After dispatching Maryland by 12, Tennessee faced SEC rival Auburn for the title. Auburn had lost by two to Louisiana Tech in the title game the previous year and had been given its only loss in the SEC Championship. However, that loss was to Tennessee, who managed a fifteen point victory over the Tigers. The championship game was similar and Tennessee took home its second title in three years with a 76–60 victory.Record-wise, this was Tennessee's best season yet, as they won 35 games while dropping only 2: one to Auburn in the regular season and the other a two point loss to Texas. Additionally, the Lady Vols won every NCAA tournament game by at least twelve points.

In the final season of the decade, the Lady Vols started off the season well, winning the SEC title. However, the team fell by one to Auburn in the SEC Championship and then lost in overtime to Virginia in the regional finals, one game shy of making a trip to the Final Four being held in Knoxville. Summitt did accomplish another milestone during this season, however - her 400th win, a 70-69 victory over South Carolina on January 25.

Despite winning neither the SEC regular season championship nor the tournament championship, Tennessee was given a 1 seed in the 1991 NCAA tournament. After a close win in the regional semifinals against Western Kentucky, Tennessee dispatched Auburn for the second time in three years. In the national semifinals, the Lady Vols beat Stanford, 68-60, to earn the opportunity to avenge last year's tournament loss against Virginia. Just as the previous year's game had gone into overtime, so did this one. Up one at the half, the game was tied at sixty by the end of regulation. Tennessee escaped in overtime with a 70-67 win and their third national title in five years. However, the next year the Lady Vols did not even make it to the regional championship, falling to the same Western Kentucky team they had beaten in the same round the previous year, 75-70. The 1992-93 season was better, as Tennessee defeated the defending champions Stanford twice and swept the SEC season for the first time ever. However, the Lady Vols were unable to grab the SEC tournament title and fell in the NCAA tournament to Iowa, a 72-56 loss in the regional finals.

Early in the 1993-94 season, Summitt grabbed her 500th win, an 80-45 beating of Ohio State on November 21. Tennessee also won both the regular season and tournament SEC titles. However, the streak of years without a Final Four appearance extended to three with a 71-68 loss in the regional semifinals to Louisiana Tech.The next season would mark Tennessee's return to the Final Four. Tennessee ran the table in the SEC regular season for the third straight year but also failed to win the tournament title for the third straight year. The top-seeded Lady Vols breezed their way to their fifth national championship game, with no game being closer than 21. However in the National Championship, the Lady Vols fell to the undefeated UConn Huskies, coached by her bitter rival, Geno Auriemma, 70-64, the first championship of many for UConn. During the off-season, Pat Summitt acquired high school stand-out Chamique Holdsclaw.

In 1995-96, with freshman Holdsclaw and senior Michelle Marciniak, the Lady Vols won the SEC tournament and made a second straight Final Four. The other three teams, UConn, Stanford, and Georgia, had all defeated the Lady Vols in the regular season. In the semi-finals, facing the UConn Huskies who had knocked them off for the title the previous year, the Lady Vols shot out to an 11 point lead. However, UConn cut it to 4 by the half and tied the game during the second half. With twelve seconds to go, Tennessee led by three but the Huskies hit a three to send the game into overtime. This was not enough, though, as UT prevailed by 5 in overtime. The championship game was not that close as Tennessee won their fourth title easily with an 83-65 win over Georgia.

With regard to record, the 1996-97 season was one of Summitt's worst seasons ever. In addition to losses to powerhouses such as Louisiana Tech (twice), Stanford, Old Dominion, and Connecticut, Tennessee also lost to teams such as Florida, against whom they had been previously undefeated. After their tenth loss of the season, in the SEC semi-finals to Auburn, the team pulled together in time for the NCAA Tournament. Avenging their loss to undefeated Connecticut, Tennessee continued on their way to the championship game, where they avenged another loss, defeating Old Dominion by 9 for their second straight national title. Summitt also earned her 600th win during the season, a 15 point victory over Marquette on November 23, 1996.

In many aspects, the 1997–98 team was Summitt's best. With the top-ranked recruiting class as well as Chamique Holdsclaw, the Lady Vols ran the table to a 39-0 season while playing one of the top-ranked schedules in the country. Only three teams came within 10 points of beating the team, and the Lady Vols won a 93–75 victory over Louisiana Tech for their third straight national championship.

Chamique Holdsclaw (who by this point had won championships in every season she was with the Vols) had boldly declared that the 1998–99 team would be the greatest ever. However, this proved not to be the case as Tennessee didn't even make the Final Four let alone claim another title. Injuries to several players decimated the team and the Lady Vols ultimately fell to Duke in the regional finals.With this, the Chamique Holdsclaw era, much to her dismay, ended rather quietly. A landmark was set during this season however, as Holdsclaw, Tamika Catchings, and Semeka Randall became the first trio from one team to be named Kodak All-Americans.

The Lady Vols ended the decade with their third straight 30-win season, third straight SEC title, and third straight SEC Tournament title. Additionally, the Lady Vols defeated UConn in the regular season, 72-71, in what would ultimately be the Huskies only loss of the year. In the NCAA tournament, Tennessee breezed its way to the title game, winning all 5 games by at least ten points. However, in the championship game the Lady Vols were blown out by the Geno Auriemma-coached Huskies, 71–52. This marked the second time in five years that UConn had beat UT in the final, adding more intensity to the Summit/Auriemma rivalry. During the season, Summitt earned her 700th win, 85-62 at Wisconsin.

At the 2000 ESPY awards, the Lady Vols basketball team was named co-team of the decade, along with the Florida State Seminoles football team. Additionally, Pat Summitt was named the Naismith Coach of the Century and Chamique Holdsclaw earned recognition as player of the century.

2000s

In the 2000–01 season, the Lady Vols claimed another SEC title, winning all 14 SEC games. Additionally, they split the season series with the UConn Huskies and headed into the SEC tournament with a 28–1 record. However, the Lady Vols were upset by Vanderbilt in the semifinals and then lost in the Sweet Sixteen to Xavier, their worst finish since 1993-94.Despite this, Pat Summitt earned her 750th win, in the second game against UConn, a 92–88 victory.^[4] Additionally, the team finished with their fourth straight thirty-win season.

In the 2001-02 season, UConn won the match-up by 14 points. However, they would see each other later in the tournament. Tennessee suffered other losses during the season, losing to Texas by a point and getting badly beaten by the Duke Blue Devils. Additionally, despite winning their fifth straight SEC championship, the Lady Vols fell once again in the tournament, this time to LSU. In the NCAA tournament, Tennessee was able to reach the Final Four yet again, with a 5 point win over Vanderbilt. This trip to the Final Four marked Summitt's 13th appearance, which broke Coach John Wooden's record of 12, as well as her 788th win, which tied her with Jody Conradt for winningest coach in women's basketball history However, the Lady Vols fell in the national semifinals to Connecticut and coach Geno Auriemma, who wound up winning the championship and capping an undefeated season.^[20] This loss ended the season at 29-5, one win shy of extending Summitt's streak of 30-win seasons. Summitt did achieve more milestones during this season. A 106-66 win over USC marked her 200th win at home, a victory against Louisiana Tech was her 300th win against a ranked opponent and her 93-65 win over Arkansas was her 1,000th game as a coach, including international contests.

During the 2002-03 season, the Lady Vols compiled their 6th perfect SEC season, and additionally beat powerhouses Duke and Louisiana Tech among others. However, the Lady Vols dropped their second straight to Texas and lost yet another game in the series against UConn. This streak would continue as the Lady Vols made it to the title game only to lose to the Huskies, and coach Geno Auriemma, yet another time, 73-68. During the season, Summitt earned her 800th win, 76-57 over DePaul, and was the fastest coach to reach this milestone.

The 2003-04 season was quite similar to the previous year. The Lady Vols defeated most of their opponents, including Duke and Louisiana Tech, but dropped games to UConn and Texas. The Lady Vols again went 14-0 in the regular season against SEC competition and again fell in the tournament. And once against, the Lady Vols won five games in the NCAA tournament only to lose 71-52 in the championship game to Connecticut, for the third time in a title game and the fourth time in a Final Four. This was UConn's third consecutive championship, two over UT, making it clear that, for the time being, UConn and coach Geno Auriemma had UT's number.

By 2004-05, Connecticut's Diana Taurasi had finally graduated and Tennessee was able to break their losing streak against Connecticut with a narrow 68-67 victory. As Taurasi left, Tennessee received Candace Parker, a highly regarded and nationally known player. However, due to injuries, she would be redshirted and didn't play this year. Tennessee suffered losses during the season to Duke, Rutgers, and LSU, while beating teams which included Stanford and Louisiana Tech. LSU's win over Tennessee gave the Tigers the SEC title, breaking Tennessee's streak of 7 straight. However Tennessee was able to break their streak of four years without a tournament title, by avenging their loss with a 67-65 victory over LSU in the SEC Championship. In the NCAA tournament, Tennessee defeated the Rutgers team which had beaten them earlier in the year to advance to their fourth Final Four in a row. In the Final Four, the Lady Vols fell to Michigan State by a mark of 68-64. Tennessee had led by 16 at one point, but the underdog Spartans made a record-tying come back to advance to the title game.In the second round of the NCAA Tournament, the Lady Vols defeated Purdue. This victory gave Pat Summitt her 880th win, breaking North Carolina coach Dean Smith's record of 879 wins, making her the all-time winningest coach in NCAA basketball history.

2005–06 was Candace Parker's first year as a college athlete. After being redshirted the previous year she was recovered from her injuries and became a starter. During the season, the Lady Vols dropped three games to SEC foes, LSU, Florida, and Kentucky, their worst SEC season since the 1996-97 season. The Lady Vols also suffered a bad loss to Duke. However they won their second straight game against Connecticut and rebounded from the poor SEC season to win the tournament for the second year in a row. In the tournament, Tennessee controversially received a two seed instead of the one seed Summitt believed her team deserved, and in the regional finals played North Carolina. Parker tied Ivory Latta for leading scorer with 20 points, but it wasn't enough. Tennessee trailed from the beginning, falling behind by as many as 16. Late in the second half, the Lady Vols were able to cut the lead down to five, but ultimately fell, 75-63. This loss meant that for the first time in five years Summitt would not be appearing in the Final Four.

Early in the 2006-07 season, Tennessee defeated four ranked teams in a row: UCLA, Stanford, Arizona State, and Middle Tennessee. After Tennessee lost to the North Carolina Tar Heels again, by 13, the Lady Vols defeated a strong Notre Dame team and defeated UConn for the third time in a row. In Knoxville, Summitt's team fell to top-ranked Duke, 74-70, in a game which Duke scored the first nineteen points, with Tennessee not scoring for nearly the first six minutes. Later, in Baton Rouge, the Lady Vols clinched the SEC title against LSU in a game where Candace Parker scored 27. However in the tournament semifinals, Tennessee fell to the Tigers. In that second game, Parker only scored 4.In the NCAA tournament, Summitt's team easily made it to the Final Four, dispatching teams that included SEC foe Mississippi and 13-seeded Cinderella, Marist, winning each game by at least 14. In the Final Four, Tennessee again faced North Carolina. Despite shooting just 27%, the team came back from a 12 point deficit with 8:18 remaining to win, 56-50. In the championship game against Rutgers, Tennessee finally won its seventh title. Down by 11 at the half, Rutgers mounted a small comeback, taking the lead down to 7 with 13:33, only to have Shannon Bobbitt hit three three-pointers. Rutgers responded with a 7-0 run, cutting the lead down to 8, but Parker hit 6 free throws to ice the win for Tennessee.

The 2007-08 season started off with the top-ranked Lady Vols going 3-0, including wins over 9th-ranked Oklahoma and 22nd-ranked Texas. The win over Texas was Summitt's 950th. After two more wins, #1 Tennessee knocked off fourth-ranked North Carolina, 83-79, in a rematch of a Final Four match-up last year, to advance to 6-0 on the season. Tennessee won their next four games, then headed out to California for a match-up with 5th-ranked Stanford. Down 4 with less than 30 seconds remaining, the Lady Vols managed to tie the game up and send it to overtime, but still lost, 73-69. The Lady Vols responded by winning their next seven games, giving them a 17-1 record going into a match-up with Duke. Candace Parker's 17 points and 12 rebounds, including a bucket with 22 seconds remaining, helped the Lady Vols defeat the Blue Devils for the first time in four years, 67-64. Tennessee would win the rest of their regular season games and defeat LSU for the SEC Tournament Championship. They won four straight games in the NCAA Tournament heading toward their third matchup of the year against the LSU Tigers in the Final Four. Alexis Hornbuckle tipped in a Nicky Anosike missed contested layup with 0.7 seconds left to win the game, 47-46. On April 8, 2008, Tennessee won its second consecutive and eighth of all time national championship against Stanford, 64-48.

Summitt's first milestone of the 2008-09 season was a 73-43 win over the Georgia Bulldogs on February 5, 2009 at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville. The win was number 1000 for Coach Summitt. The Thompson Boling Arena's court was named "The Summit" in her honor. The 2008-09 season also ended with a dubious first, as the Lady Vols lost 71-55 in the first round of the NCAA tournament to Ball State in Bowling Green, Kentucky, marking the first time Tennessee would not appear in the Sweet 16 since the NCAA first sanctioned championships in women's basketball for the 1981-82 season.

Tournament record

Pat Summitt has 15 Southeastern Conference regular season titles with the Lady Vols, as well as 14 tournament titles. Summitt's Lady Vols have made an appearance in every NCAA Tournament, as well as every Sweet 16 (except for the 2009), and have appeared 18 times in the Final Four. She was also named the Naismith Coach of the Century. When she made her 13th trip to the Final Four as a coach in 2002, she surpassed John Wooden as the NCAA coach with the most trips to the Final Four. Summitt is a 7-time SEC Coach of the year and a 7-time NCAA Coach of the year and has won eight national titles, including three in a row from 1996 to 1998.Summitt is known for scheduling tough opponents for her team to play in the regular season, in order to prepare them for March. In her years of coaching, her teams have played top ten ranked teams over 250 times.

In the 1997–1998 tournament, her team went undefeated the entire season, winning all 30 regular and 9 tournament games, earning Summitt's sixth championship. Some sportswriters considered that year's team the greatest team ever in college women's basketball. This was the third consecutive championship for the Lady Vols, and the third for heralded players Chamique Holdsclaw and Kellie Jolly (now Harper). Holdsclaw was named a consensus All-American, as was freshman Tamika Catchings.

Summitt and the 1996-1997 championship team were the subject of an HBO documentary titled A Cinderella Season: The Lady Vols Fight Back. That year, the Lady Vols posted just a 23–10 record heading into the NCAA tournament, with two losses to Louisiana Tech, setbacks against national powers Georgia, Stanford and UConn, but also shocking losses to SEC lesser lights Arkansas, Auburn, and LSU (which was 7–20 just two seasons prior and had not yet established itself as a perennial national power). However, Tennessee righted itself during the tournament, shocking previously undefeated UConn in the regional final, 91–81, before defeating Notre Dame and Old Dominion in the Final Four in Cincinnati.

Awards and Titles

• 15-time SEC Champions (1980, 1985, 1990, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2010)
• 14-time SEC Tournament Champions (1980, 1985, 1988, 1989, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010)
• 7-time SEC Coach of the Year (1983, 1995, 1998, 2001, 2003,2004, 2007)
• 7-time NCAA Coach of the Year (1983, 1987, 1989, 1994, 1995, 1998, 2004)
• 8-time NCAA Champions (1987, 1989, 1991, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2007, 2008)

Honors

In 1999, Summitt was inducted with the inaugural class to the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame. In 2000, she joined Isiah Thomas as inductees into the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Summitt is the only person to have two courts used by NCAA Division I basketball teams named in her honor: "Pat Head Summitt Court" at the University of Tennessee-Martin, and "The Summitt" at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville.

She also has two streets named after her: "Pat Head Summitt Street" on the University of Tennessee-Knoxville campus and "Pat Head Summitt Avenue" on the University of Tennessee-Martin campus.

Summitt serves on the Museum Board of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.

Forty-five of her former players have gone on to become coaches in their own right.

On February 5, 2009, Summitt became the first coach (man or woman) in Division I NCAA basketball history to reach 1,000 wins as a head coach with a 74-44 win over Georgia at Thompson-Boling Arena.

Summitt was named to Sporting News' list of the 50 greatest (American) coaches of all times. She is listed in position 11.

Records

Summitt is second among active women's coaches in winning percentage. Summitt is at .840 and Geno Auriemma is in first at .854.

Summitt has the most national championships in women's basketball at 8.

Summitt's 1998 team is one of only 6 women's teams to ever finish the NCAA tournament with an undefeated season, joining the 1986 Texas, 1995 UConn, 2002 UConn, 2005 UConn, and 2009 UConn teams.

Summitt is the only women's DI coach to reach 1000 wins.

Summitt was the second quickest women's coach to reach 500 wins - achieving the milestone during her 20th season. Geno Auriemma was the quickest when he hit 500 wins during his 18th season.

Summitt's 1998 team completed a 4 season run of consecutive Final Fours, which was a record at the time. This was later surpassed by the 2004 UConn team which completed a 5 season run of consecutive Final Fours.

Summitt has a phenomenal winning record against most other NCAA teams that she has played more than 1 time. The only 3 teams with a winning record versus Summitt are Appalachian State, Cincinnati and UConn.

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Who is Starlet Marie Jones?

Who is Starlet Marie Jones. The world knows her as Star Jones (previously Star Jones Reynolds). Jones is an American lawyer and television personality, best known for her role as a co-host of the ABC weekday morning talk show The View. Jones was born March 24, 1962 in Badin, North Carolina, Star moved to New Jersey as a small child where she graduated from Notre Dame High School in Lawrenceville, New Jersey.^[1] She earned a B.A. degree in The Administration of Justice at American University and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Houston Law Center. She is also a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha

Sorority. She was initiated in the Lambda Zeta Chapter at American University.

Jones was recruited by Court TV in 1991 as a commentator for the William Kennedy Smith rape trial, and spent several years as a legal correspondent for NBC's Today and NBC Nightly News.

She left NBC in 1994 to host her own court show Jones & Jury. Although the show was canceled after one year, Jones quickly was signed up as chief legal analyst on Inside Edition, where she was assigned to lead the coverage of the O.J. Simpson murder trial and was the only reporter to interview Simpson during his civil trial.

In 1997, Jones joined The View as a co-host, a role that increased her public exposure significantly. She was The View's first African-American co-host.

On June 27, 2006, Jones officially reported that she would be leaving The View after nine seasons as co-host. She told People Magazine that the decision to leave was not her own. "What you don't know is that my contract was not renewed for the 10th season ... I feel like I was fired." She found out her contract would not be renewed just days before Rosie O'Donnell's addition to the show was announced.^[2]

The following day, Barbara Walters, claiming she had been "blindsided"^[3] announced that effective immediately Jones Reynolds no longer would appear on The View, except for segments that had already been pre-taped—which proved to be minimal. When the series went into summer reruns, only programs in which she had been absent from the panel were rebroadcast. Jones was removed from the opening credits, leaving only Walters, Joy Behar, and Elisabeth Hasselbeck. In addition to being removed from the credits, Jones was immediately removed from the ABC.com website. After June 27, her only appearances on The View were on the Friday June 30, 2006 episode, which was taped prior to her departure, and then replayed on Tuesday July 4, 2006.

Shortly after, Jones joined Larry King on his talk show to defend her position and respond to questions about why ABC had refused to renew her contract. The network claimed that not only did Jones's excessive reports about her wedding plans alienate viewers, but her acceptance of clothing and merchandise for the event, in exchange for mentions on The View, was in violation of network policy. When questioned about these issues by King, Jones adamantly stated that every mention of her wedding and those connected to it on The View was specifically approved and negotiated by the network themselves, clearly not in violation of any policy. She also reminded viewers that the ratings during that time were the highest ratings The View had in the nine years she was a co-host.^[4]

Media reports on March 7, 2007 stated that Star Jones would return to truTV (formerly Court TV) as the new Executive Editor of their Daytime Programming and would host a live weekday talk show based on the law and pop culture. It premiered on August 20.

On January 31, 2008, it was announced that Jones and truTV has mutually decided to end their relationship as the network made changes in their programming selection. The final episode of the Star Jones program aired on February 1, 2008. "[Jones'] show averaged 186,000 viewers and, by its final telecast, was down in the neighborhood of 85,000." (Washington Post, Feb. 2008) She will remain a legal expert contributor to "In Session" trial coverage. She was making $8 million a year from Court TV.^[5]

From September 2004 to September 2005, Jones was a red-carpet host for the E! television network, conducting interviews at awards shows. Jones and E! declined to renew her contract after one year. ^[6]

In July 2006, Jones hosted a week of the HGTV program House Hunters, in New York City. Her appearance on the program "scored the largest household ratings in the cable channel's history." ^[7]

In December 2006, for three days, Jones sat in for Michael Eric Dyson to guest host his radio show in his absence. Also that month, she produced for the Cathy Hughes-owned TV-One cable station The Star Jones-Reynolds Report, which reported on events that tremendously affected the African American community the previous year.

On April 2, 2007, she sat in as host of Larry King Live, interviewing Beyoncé Knowles while Larry was on vacation.

She appeared in "Screwed," the eighth season finale of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. While her character was also named Star Jones, she was not playing herself, but rather a prosecutor from Brooklyn—a position she held earlier in her career.

She hosted Oxygen Network's hit reality television show The Bad Girls Club Season 2 reunion episode, which aired on May 20, 2008.

On April 22, 2009 Jones appeared on the syndicated talk show Dr. Phil. As a former Brooklyn, NY Homicide Prosecutor, Jones sat on a legal panel to discuss the alleged murder of Sandra Cantu by Melissa Huckaby.

On July 17, 2009, Jones appeared on a celebrity version of Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?, where she won $25,000 to benefit The East Harlem School at Exodus House, a New York City middle school for underserved populations.

Jones has written two books. The first, You Have to Stand for Something, or You'll Fall for Anything, is a collection of autobiographical essays published in 1998. In January 2006, Jones published her second book, Shine: A Physical, Emotional, and Spiritual Journey to Finding Love, detailing changes she made to re-shape her life, including her marriage and dramatic weight loss.

Jones married investment banker Al Reynolds on November 13, 2004. The much-publicized wedding was held at Saint Bartholomew's Church in New York City in front of five hundred guests, and featured three matrons of honor, twelve bridesmaids, two junior bridesmaids, three best men, twelve groomsmen, three junior groomsmen, six footmen, four ring bearers and four flower girls. More than thirty corporate "sponsors" donated wedding attire and merchandise for the event, in exchange for mentions in the media and on Jones' website.^[8] WE: Women's Entertainment named Jones Reynolds the top bridezilla of 2004.

Immediately after the wedding, Jones added her husband's last name to her own and began using Star Jones Reynolds professionally. In an interview in the August 24, 2007 issue of Entertainment Weekly, she explained she reverted to Star Jones professionally in order to keep her public persona separate from her private self.

Among the issues that emerged while Jones was a host on The View was her weight loss, which seemed to occur fairly suddenly, after her years of weight struggles. Viewers and commentators suspected that she had had gastric bypass surgery. However, in 2006, when Jones was a guest on Bob and the Showgram on WDCG 105.1 FM in Raleigh, North Carolina and was asked whether she had had such surgery, she denied it.

However, in a September, 2007, interview in Glamour magazine, she revealed she had, indeed, undergone gastric bypass surgery in August of 2003, resulting in a loss of 160 pounds over three years.^[9] A number of commentators criticized Jones for refusing to be honest and for claiming, for some time, that she had lost weight via diet and exercise.

On March 9, 2008, MSNBC reported that Jones and Reynolds were "calling it quits."^[10]. Fueling the fire about the circumstances around the divorce were pictures posted online of Jones with Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade, sparking rumors of an affair. ^[11]

Three years after her marriage to banker Al Reynolds, Jones filed divorce papers March 26, 2008 in New York Supreme Court in Manhattan.^[12]

On March 17, 2010, Star underwent cardiac surgery from a surgery she had three decades ago from a thoracic tumor.^[13]

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Controversies

• In June 2003, Jones was sued by a landscaping company, which alleged she had agreed to ensure that the firm would receive credit for their work on a rooftop garden for her Upper East Side penthouse duplex in a quid pro quo exchange. The work was done in advance of an article about her home in the October 2003 issue of Architectural Digest. The Smoking Gun website published a copy of a letter she signed which agreed to the deal. The lawsuit was eventually dismissed in Jones' favor.^[14]
• Jones was named to PETA's "Worst Dressed" List four years in a row. ^[15] An anti-fur ad from PETA featured drag queen Flotilla DeBarge dressed as Jones in a spoof. Jones threatened to sue PETA and DeBarge as a result of the ad. ^[16]
• Rosie O'Donnell, who was hired to replace Meredith Vieira on The View, has criticized Jones Reynolds for not publicly admitting to having gastric bypass surgery. Joy Behar also made a small joke on The View after guest co-host Kathy Griffin asked "Where's Star?" and Behar replied, "No one knows, because she got so skinny, she disappeared."
• A non-profit Detroit women's group, Full and Fabulous, invited Jones Reynolds to speak at their "Health, Beauty and Self-Esteem" conference during the 2006 Super Bowl in Detroit. The group claimed Jones Reynolds demanded a first-class airfare, a suite at a five-star hotel, and $30,000 to show up. On November 2, 2007, she [was] accused of "stealing" from a Michigan non-profit organization after accepting plane tickets from them to party during the 2006 NFL Super Bowl. Jones allegedly changed the flight by moving the departure up two hours, doubling the cost of the flight, without the approval of the organization. The group then told Detroit TV station WXYZ that Jones Reynolds elected to party during the Super Bowl weekend and to plug her book rather than attend the conference. However, Jones Reynolds' representative refutes the group's claims, branding them "distorted." According to the spokesperson, Jones honored all contractual terms of the deal, and the organization fabricated a fascinating story to make a meaningful name for themselves.^[17] But neither Jones nor her spokesman have provided any evidence to support their claims. Full and Fabulous took Star to small claims court in Detroit. Jones never showed up for the hearing nor did she respond to any of the court papers. The judge ordered Jones to pay back Full and Fabulous US $20,000. Jones has yet to obey the court order and pay the group back.
• Jones wrote an open letter to Bill O'Reilly in response to comments made towards Michelle Obama. O'Reilly was quoted as saying, "I don't want to go on a lynching party against Michelle Obama unless there's evidence, hard facts, that say this is how the woman really feels. If that's how she really feels — that is a bad country or a flawed nation, whatever — then that's legit. We'll track it down."
• On September 16, 2001, Star Jones declared on The View that she "would not vote for an atheist" for president, although an atheist "could babysit her kid—possibly".^[18] She refused to apologize for her comments,^[19] ultimately resulting in a call for a boycott against Payless ShoeSource who signed her on as a spokeswoman during the midst of the controversy.^[20]
• Various rumors have been circulating about the sexual orientation of Star's then husband. In 2005 a radio station retracted a claim that Al Reynolds patronized Las Vegas gay bars,[3] and more recently the couple sued the National Enquirer for falsely claiming that Al Reynolds is gay.[4]
• In May 2008, in response to the publication of her former boss Barbara Walters' autobiography Audition, Star released a statement: "It is a sad day when an icon like Barbara Walters, in the sunset of her life, is reduced to publicly branding herself as an adulterer, humiliating an innocent family with accounts of her illicit affair and speaking negatively against me all for the sake of selling a book," Jones told US Magazine. "It speaks to her true character." ^[21]

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Who is David Adkins?

Who is David Adkins? The Comedy world knows him better by the stage name Sinbad. He is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He became well-known in the late 1980s and 1990s from being featured on his own HBO specials, appearing on several television series, and starring in the family-friendly films Houseguest, First Kid, and Jingle All the Way. Sinbad was born November 10, 1956 in Benton Harbor, Michigan, the son of Martha and the Baptist Rev. Dr. Donald Adkins.^[1] He has five siblings, named Donna, Dorothea, Mark, Michael, and Donald.^[2] Sinbad attended Benton Harbor High School, where he was in the marching band as well as the math club. He attended college from 1974 to 1978 at the University of Denver in Denver, Colorado, where he lettered two seasons for the basketball team.

Sinbad served in the US Air Force as a boom operator aboard KC-135 Stratotankers. While assigned to the 344th Air Refueling Wing at McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita, Kansas, he would often go downtown to do stand-up comedy, and competed as a comedian/MC in the USAF Talent Contest in 1981. Sinbad was almost dismissed with a dishonorable discharge for various misbehaviors, including going AWOL.^[3]

“

I didn't make the Air Force basketball team and went into denial. So, I kept going AWOL. My mother kept begging me to go back. I told her, 'No, I'm not going back. I'll just grow a beard. They won't recognize me. I'll just be another black man with a beard.' I was going to Georgia Tech to learn about computers. I'd go AWOL all the time. I'd just leave. I'd come back, hoping they'd throw me out.[4]

”

After a series of incidents, he was eventually discharged "for parking my car in the wrong position."^[5]

He married Meredith Fuller in 1986. They had two children together, including Christopher Sawula, an historian at the University of Guam, and divorced in 1992. They remarried in 2002.

Under the professional name Sinbad,^[6] he began his career appearing on Star Search. Sinbad won his round against fellow comedian Dennis Miller,^[7] appearing a total of seven times. He soon was cast on The Redd Foxx Show, a short-lived sitcom, playing Byron Lightfoot.

In 1987, Sinbad landed a role in A Different World, a spin-off of The Cosby Show for Lisa Bonet's character Denise Huxtable. (Previously, Sinbad appeared in two different one-off roles on The Cosby Show, as a principal and as "Davis Sarrette".) Huxtable attended Hillman College, a fictional historically black college. While Bonet only stayed with the program for a season,^[8] Sinbad stayed with the cast from 1988 until 1991 as "Coach Walter Oakes".

With the exception of later addition Marisa Tomei to the cast, the students at Hillman were all high-achieving African Americans with unique personalities, contrary to the "token" roles popular media previously focused on. At a July 2006 cast reunion promoting the series syndication on cable channel Nick at Nite, Sinbad reflected on the program: "The show was a problem. You look back, black shows were just happening...It wasn't supposed to succeed and it (did). This show was never given the accolades it should have." In A Different World, Walter began to fall in love with a girl named Jaleesa played by Dawnn Lewis. She was not interested in him until he asked her to marry him. The two decided to cancel the wedding due to differing outlooks on life.

Sinbad co-starred with Scott Bakula in Necessary Roughness, where he played Andre Krimm, a college professor recruited for the defensive line, after NCAA sanctions force the Texas State University Fightin' Armadillos to start from scratch. The Paramount Pictures film opened September 27, 1991, and grossed over $20 million at the box office.

After playing a condom in the 1992 video Time Out: The Truth About HIV, AIDS, and You, and hosting the November 21, 1992 episode of Saturday Night Live, he found small roles in The Meteor Man and Coneheads. Other appearances during this hiatus from episodic television were in the 1994 telefilm Aliens for Breakfast, and two appearances on Bill Nye, the Science Guy.

By the early 1990s, his popularity had grown enough for Fox to green-light The Sinbad Show, which premiered September 16, 1993. In the self-titled series, Sinbad played 35-year-old David Bryan, a bachelor who decides to become a foster parent to two children after becoming emotionally attached to them.^[9] The series, which co-starred a young Salma Hayek, received praise from critics for its unique and realistic portrayal of African American life.^[9] Around that time, Sinbad had recently received joint custody of his two kids, Royce,^[10] then age 4 and Paige, age 7, and told the press that these experiences informed him of single parenting.^[9]

“

Black men are already responsible, already take care of our duties, but nobody emphasizes that. I hear all this bad talk against men and their children. I just got so tired of it. More than anything else, I'm showing that life has changed, the world has changed. And now the key is not going to just be parenting, it's going to be mentoring, where people who are not even in your family are going to have to go in and help. And we are going to accept that responsibility, which we used to do in our culture.[9]

”

The Sinbad Show was cancelled, with the last episode airing April 21, 1994. The role earned him a 1995 Kids' Choice Awards nomination for "Favorite Television Actor". It also led to a future role in "Saved by the Bell".

In 1990, Sinbad did his first stand-up comedy special for HBO called Sinbad: Brain Damaged. The special was recorded at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. In 1993, Sinbad did his next stand-up special in New York City's Paramount Theatre called Sinbad - Afros and Bellbottoms for which he won a 1995 Image Award. The show was such a success that he was brought back in 1996 for Sinbad - Son of a Preacher Man and again in 1998 for Sinbad - Nothin' but the Funk. All of these shows have been released on VHS and DVD.

Sinbad again won a 1998 Image Award in 1998 for Sinbad's Summer Jam III: '70s Soul Music Festival.

By 1995, Sinbad had created a company called "David & Goliath Productions" that was located in Studio City.^[2]

From 1989 to 1991, Sinbad was host of It's Showtime at the Apollo, and returned in 2005 while regular host Mo'Nique was on maternity leave. He hosted a Soul Train episode that aired January 14, 1995; appeared as a contestant in a 1998 episode of Celebrity Jeopardy!; and was the emcee for the 2000 Miss Universe Pageant.^[11]

During the 1990s, Sinbad guest-starred on an episode of Nickelodeon's All That. In one sketch, he played the father of recurring character Ishboo, dubbed "Sinboo". He also made a cameo appearance in the comedy movie Good Burger, starring Kenan & Kel, as "Mr. Wheat", a short tempered teacher whose car gets crushed by a giant realistic hamburger. His character was modeled after Gough Wheat, a past teacher of the movie's producer at White Station High School in Memphis, Tennessee.

He and Phil Hartman co-starred in the comedy film Houseguest, where he plays Kevin Franklin, a Pittsburgh resident who owes $50,000 to the mob. Hartman, as Gary Young, comments to his children that they're waiting to pick up a black man. Taking who they think to be a well-known dentist home, Young's family is stabilized by Franklin's own unstable nature. Released January 6, 1995, the film grossed $26 million in North America.

Sinbad's film roles also include First Kid, which he starred in, and Jingle All the Way (1996). For Jingle All the Way, Sinbad won a Blockbuster Entertainment Award for "Favorite Supporting Actor - Family". He also performed his HBO comedy special "Son of a Preacher Man" at the Paramount Theatre in Denver, Colorado.

In 1996, Sinbad joined First Lady Hillary Clinton and musician Sheryl Crow in a USO tour in Bosnia and Herzegovina.^[12]

The NAACP Image Awards recognized his 1996 role in Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child, nominating him in the "Outstanding Performance in an Animated/Live-Action/Dramatic Youth or Children's Series/Special" category. He lent his voice to Reily, an animal character in Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco (1996), and later voiced the horse "Hollywood Shuffle" in Ready to Run.

VIBE magazine started its own syndicated late-night talk show in August 1997 which aired on UPN, hosted by actor Chris Spencer. Spencer was fired in October, and replaced by Sinbad; the series lasted until the summer of 1998. At that same time, Sinbad performed his HBO comedy special "Nothin' but the Funk" in Aruba's Guillermo P. Trinidad Memorial Stadium.

He was also featured in a 1999 infomercial for Tae Bo, where he claimed that he was successfully using the Tae Bo system to become an action star.^[13]

In 2004 he was named the #78 greatest stand-up comic of all time on "Comedy Central Presents: 100 Greatest Stand-Ups of All Time".

Actor Mark Curry credits Sinbad and Bill Cosby for helping convince him not to commit suicide.^[14] Sinbad was responsible for discovering R&B trio 702; convincing their parents to let him take them to a music convention/competition, under the name "Sweeta than Suga", eventually being heard by music producer Michael Bivins.^[15]

Sinbad also made a cameo appearance on the television show It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia as himself in a rehab center in the episode Dennis Reynolds: An Erotic Life, which originally aired October 23, 2008.^[16] His cameo was met with positive acclaim from fans of both him, and the series.^[17]

He recently performed his Comedy Central television special "Where U Been?" at Club Nokia.

On March 14, 2010, he debuted on the Celebrity Apprentice and was fired on the second episode (March 21, 2010) after losing in the Kodak challenge as project manager.

In 2009, Sinbad was placed in the top 10 of the 250 worst tax debtors for the state of California. The comedian owed the State 2.5 million dollars in personal tax income.^[18]

On December 11th 2009, Sinbad filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.^[19][20]

On February 5, 2010, it was reported that Sinbad has put up his 2.5 acre hilltop home in order to alleviate his tax burdens.^[21][22]

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