Coach Pat Summitt Opened Up in 2011 About Living With Dementia: 'Don't Be Afraid of It'

— -- Five years before Pat Summitt's death, the legendary University of Tennessee basketball coach was leading her beloved team -- while battling early onset dementia.

"I've been so amazed at the response to dementia and how I'm going to deal with it," Summitt told ABC News' Robin Roberts in 2011.

"These are uncharted waters," Assistant Coach Mickie DeMoss told ABC News at the time. "I don't know how many coaches have made an announcement of dementia that's still coaching."

Summitt -- remembered as the all-time most winning D-1 basketball coach in NCAA history -- told Roberts, "What I want to do is get other people to understand: If you have dementia, don't be afraid of it."

"I work out five days a week -- they say that's very, very important," Summitt said, adding that she would keep her mind sharp with puzzles.

Lady Vols player Vicki Baugh told ABC News at the time that Summitt exemplified a lasting lesson -- "there's no excuses."

"Pat lives by that every day on the court and off the court," Baugh said.

"No matter what is thrown her way, she will overcome it. And I apply that to myself," Baugh said. "There's no excuse to not succeeding and doing the things that I want to do."

"It's all about the players," Summitt told Roberts. "I like to see young people succeed."

"I always think I have something to teach them," she said smiling.

Summitt, who stepped down as University of Tennessee's women's basketball coach in 2012, died peacefully this morning at the age of 64, according to her family.

"Since 2011, my mother has battled her toughest opponent, early onset dementia, ‘Alzheimer’s Type,’ and she did so with bravely fierce determination, just as she did with every opponent she ever faced," her son Tyler said in a statement. "Even though it’s incredibly difficult to come to terms that she is no longer with us, we can all find peace in knowing she no longer carries the heavy burden of this disease."

"For 64 years, my mother first built her life upon a strong relationship with her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Her foundation was also built upon love of her family and of her players, and love of the fundamentals of hard work which reflected her philosophy that ‘you win in life with people,'" Tyler said. "She’ll be remembered as the all-time winningest D-1 basketball coach in NCAA history, but she was more than a coach to so many -- she was a hero and a mentor, especially to me, her family, her friends, her Tennessee Lady Volunteer staff and the 161 Lady Vol student-athletes she coached during her 38-year tenure."