A local community has been hit hard by the death of a former NFL player who became a north Fulton high school football coach.
Tim Lester, a coach at Fellowship Christian School in Roswell and formerly Milton High School, died Tuesday of COVID-19 complications, family friend Alan Brock said.
Doctors believe he died of a pulmonary embolism, Brock added.
Lester, 52, was a fullback for the Pittsburgh Steelers from 1996-1998 and known as the “Bus Driver” for Hall of Fame running back Jerome Bettis.
The Eastern Kentucky University alumni was inducted into the Kentucky Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2018 and was introduced by Bettis during the ceremony.
He was playing for the Dallas Cowboys when he retired in 1999.
“It’s a sad day to hear of Tim Lester’s passing,” former Cowboy running back Emmitt Smith said on Twitter Tuesday night. “My thoughts go out to his family, Steeler Nation and his teammates that he so steadily blocked and protected.”
Lester was a devoted father to two sons and a daughter and husband to his wife Natalie.
Post-NFL, Lester turned to his Christian faith to teach young athletes values they could embrace throughout any walk of life, friends said.
“I think he showed them no matter what heights you reach in life, it comes down to faith, family and friends,” said friend Gary Sylvestri, the athletic director at Milton High School. “It’s not the house you live in, who you played with in the NFL or Super Bowl. He just found new life after the NFL and who he could impact.”
A tearful Sylvestri said he and Lester, Florida natives of different races, considered each other brothers who could talk freely about the heightened racial and political discourse.
Lester coached at Milton for several years and left in 2010 when Sylvestri was hired. The two became fast friends. After Milton, he went on to coach at Kings Ridge Christian School in Alpharetta, Brock said. He started working at Fellowship Christian School last June.
Fellowship Christian Athletic Director David Lowry said he and Lester were planning a leadership program for all student athletes at the school starting with football.
“We were dreaming what that would look like,” he said. “We didn’t get to do what we wanted to do.”
Lester started the nonprofit Milton Steelers Youth Football Program around 2009 where he mentored at-risk youth and focused on developing self-confidence, a mindset of giving back to the community and mind and body wellness. The Steelers competed in the Pop Warner National Championship youth football tournament in 2018 and lost to the North Philadelphia Aztecs.
As a coach, Lester taught young football players words to live by and tied them to Bible scripture, Lowry said. For the Milton Steelers program, each player wore a word such as humility, discipline, effort, selflessness on the back of their jersey instead of their own name. When the games ended and the teams met mid-field, each Steelers player told the opposing team their word and what it meant to them, Brock said.
Lester was known for saying when you have “Full eyes, full heart,” you’re a winner no matter the outcome of the event, Brock said.
Lester didn’t only inspire youth; Brock said his friend changed his life by inspiring him to focus less on material possessions. The two became close years ago when Brock’s son joined the local Steelers program.
“I was somewhat of a lost soul and he mentored me and led me back to Christ,” Brock said.
Lester tested positive for COVID-19 about two weeks ago, Brock said, and seemed to be improving. He last spoke with Lester on Monday night before the College Football Playoff National Championship football game.
“He was getting better but he was coughing a lot,” Brock said. “He was my best friend. He was my brother.”
A memorial will be planned at North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, Brock said.
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