LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A local soccer coach is being remembered as selfless, genuine, and compassionate.

Lee Smith, the head coach at DeSales High School, suffered a heart attack over the weekend. He died on Tuesday afternoon.

"It's tough. It's tough for our family, our kids," DeSales Athletic Director Don Bowers said.

Smith ascended to head coach at DeSales in 2021. Bowers says Smith took over a program on the rise and built on the brotherhood.

"Lee was a very calm coach. He was not a screamer, not a yeller," Bowers said.

Bowers was already looking ahead to the next season together, until he woke up to a text from Smith's wife Sunday morning while they were on a trip.

"We immediately packed up and came on home," Bowers said. "They mean that much to me. The family does."

Smith's final act was to donate his organs. It was not lost on his friends, including Mockingbird Valley Soccer Club executive director Cory Johnson, who remember Smith for always thinking of others.

"Lee really put others first. In a day and time when that's not always the case, Lee did that daily," Johnson said.

Mockingbird Valley was one of the many soccer families Smith embraced. Johnson says if players didn't have a ride, Smith picked them up himself. He would even pay for players' hotel rooms if the family couldn't afford it.

"We need to remember the person he was," Johnson said.

The trophies won only tell part of Smith's story.

"He loved his family, loved his kids, loved his wife," Bowers said.

That's the side of Smith that Bowers will remember: the bond forged over distillery trips, hiking, and soccer games.

The AD says he and the young Colts players are leaning on each other as they all grieve and move forward.

"I told them the other day, I said, the first step is always the hardest, so let's just take this step together," Bowers said. "And if we take it together, then we'll be okay."

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