Tragedy strikes Scott’s Branch athletic department
By C.R. Cumbee
Staff Writer
Summerton—The Scott’s Branch girls’ basketball team is going through a difficult time as head coach Ruth Coard died in an automobile accident last Thursday.
“If you’ve ever been kicked in the belly unexpectedly and got the wind knocked out of you, that’s how it feels,” Scott’s Branch football coach Leonard Johnson said. “Most of the girls on that team, she was all they knew. They had been around her since they were little. It’s been really tough ever since last Thursday.”
The Lady Eagles only have a few games remaining on the schedule and will be coached by assistant Jojo English, a former player at South Carolina.
“Right now we’re going to finish the season. He (English) has a handle on them and he’ll get them through it,” Johnson said.
Coard was an upstanding member of the community and meant a lot to those at the school. Scott’s Branch recently held a memorial service on campus to let friends pay their final respects.
“Ruth was a person that if you asked her to do anything, you could consider it done. We had over 1,200 people at the service today and her spirit will be with us for a while. She grew up and worked here and will be sorely missed,” Johnson said.
It will take time to heal, but the team will try to honor their former coach during its final few contests.
“It’s hard to judge how young people are going to respond to things. We played last night and lost by a couple of points, and after the game everything just came down on them. You don’t know if the kids are going to shut down or use this in a positive way,” Johnson said.
“The kids have never had to deal with something like this before. One day she’s smiling in practice while you’re working on something and later you get a call saying your coach has passed. We’ve been doing everything we can to get them prepared to handle what comes next. Everybody is just raw emotions right now.”
