A Bright light in the coaching world is gone much too soon, but Kimberly Peer Bright made an impact that will never end.
"She is going to affect our program forever," said Tennessee High assistant girls basketball and volleyball coach Charlie Tiller. "She really laid a lot of the foundation for our program and where it is today and where it will be going forward."
Bright, who won a girls basketball school record 213 games over 12 seasons at Tennessee High, died unexpectedly at age 53 on Wednesday. She is survived by her husband, Parrish, and son, McHale. Funeral services are slated for Monday at Weaver Funeral Home, with internment following on Tuesday at Washington County Memory Gardens.
"I was very shocked, devastated, a lot of people are still responding on Facebook," said Courtney Stone Watkins, who played for Bright from 2000-04 before spending four seasons at Liberty University. She also served as an assistant for Bright for one season. "I haven't really quite wrapped my head around the words that I have to say honestly. I am very shocked and honestly just praying for McHale and Parrish. That was her world even when she was coaching. McHale would sometimes come to our practices and she would talk about them too.
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"Although basketball was her world she cared so much about them. Her parents, Paul and Reba [Peer] would come to most all of our games. Her family was part of her success being part of the Lady Vikings. We knew all of her family so my prayers and thoughts go out to her and her family as well during this difficult time of her loss. I was totally shocked as I am sure were all of my teammates and all of the Viking community."
It was current Tennessee High athletic director Barry Wade whose record was broken by Bright.
"Viking Nation is mourning the loss of one of our legends. Coach Bright leaves a legacy of excellence, friendship, and leadership at Tennessee High School," said Wade, in a statement. "Her passion for coaching and her student-athletes earned her the title of 'Winningest Coach in Lady Viking Basketball History' and made her an inspiration to countless players and students throughout her years of coaching and teaching.
"Kim was a great friend, mentor, and colleague to me and many coaches at Tennessee High. Her legacy will live on in the Lady Viking basketball program and in all the hearts of those she touched."
Then known as Kim Peer, Bright played high school basketball at Sullivan East for Mickey Forrester, leading the Patriots to their first-ever substate appearance. Forrester's son, Michael, is a former head girls coach for the Patriots, who is now the head softball and assistant girls basketball coach at the Bluff City school.
"I knew Kim well. She played here in the late eighties and was a really good player for dad," Forrester said. "She was on the first team he ever took to substate in 1989, they went to Oak Ridge. He and her were very close. When he was sick she was one of the people who was always there and was there for us, just a really good person.
"I got to coach against her. When I was first the head basketball coach she was at Tennessee High and they kicked our butt over and over again. She was a fantastic coach, but a better person. She was special for sure."
Bright played college basketball at Milligan before getting her Education Specialist Degree from Lincoln Memorial. Tiller said Bright began her coaching career at T.A. Dugger in Elizabethton, Tennessee, then spent five years as an assistant at Tennessee High before serving as head coach from 2000-08. She returned to coach four more years before stepping aside two years ago to focus on her health, which included a battle with cancer that Tiller said she had won.
In addition to 213 wins, Bright led the Vikings to six conference championships and three district titles.
Tiller, who began coaching as an assistant for Bright in 2004, recalls what made her stand out from so many others in the coaching field, including her affinity for ultra-successful Tennessee Lady Vols head coach Pat Summitt.
"Her drive first of all. She was very motivated to try to have our team be the best that they could be. The program was always one of the most important things to her, how can we improve as a program, how can we grow. That real drive to be successful," Tiller said. "Especially when she started out there weren't a ton of female head coaches in our league and there really still aren't. She really wanted to be successful in a lot of ways for that. The biggest thing, and you hear this about a lot of coaches and I think it is true, the kids were the number one thing.
"She wanted to be a good influence on our players and just really teach them about more than the game. I know Coach Bright was a big admirer of Coach Summitt and tried to model her program around a lot of things that Pat did."
Watkins knew all about Bright before arriving at Tennessee High in 2000, where she helped the Vikings win district and region games, along with making substate appearances.
"She definitely had a huge impact on my life obviously. She was very involved in the youth leagues. I grew up in Bristol City Schools through Haynesfield and Vance at that time," she said. "Even before I got to Tennessee High I had already knew who she was. She made a huge impact just in the youth leagues in our community and then obviously once I went to Tennessee High just to be able to play for her for four years.
"I know that everybody wants to win, but she didn't always care about the wins and losses, she really cared about me as a person. That was probably most impactful and then we went on to be very successful at Tennessee High. We kept in touch continuously whenever I went to play at Liberty."
Bright never quit being part of lives of those players she coached.
"She came to my Sweet 16 game whenever we played in Chattanooga my freshman year at Liberty," Watkins said. "We continued to text, talk and she would come to some of my games. She even came to my wedding so we just continued to always talk. My birthday was just a couple of weeks ago and we just talked then. She would always text or call me on my birthday no matter what...
"She always kept in touch and I don't think it was just with me, it was just with all of her players," she added. "She really generally cared about not only you basketball-wise, but you as a person that wanted you to do be a great wife and mother as you go on to continue outside of basketball after you graduate, no matter whether you are going on to play basketball or not. She generally cared more about you as a person, it wasn't just all basketball, basketball, that was just icing on the cake."
Bright had continued to serve as a physical education teacher at Tennessee High, although students were gone this week for spring break.
"It is kind of interesting because we are on spring break this week so that is good in a way, but it will be really, really hard because she was a person that cared about kids and kids knew that she did," Tiller said. "It will be really tough for the kids when we come back to school."
Tiller, who felt like the cancer treatments had taken a lot out of her, was still stunned upon receiving a text on Wednesday of Bright's death. He will certainly miss his visits with Bright in gym class or the regular calls or texts from Bright to "talk ball."
"It was really a shock. She has not been in really good health, but I did feel like she was doing better," he said. "I probably talked to her about a week ago was the last time I was down there and saw her. It was just a really sudden thing...
"It is really sad, it is really hard, our kids will be out in force Monday. She has meant a lot to me personally and to us as a program."