RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Colleagues of the Richmond women’s basketball staff members killed in a fiery hot-air balloon crash remembered them Tuesday as devoted Spiders whose dedication has provided comfort to fellow coaches and peers.
Assistant head coach Ginny Doyle and director of basketball operations Natalie Lewis died Friday night when the hot-air balloon they were riding in hit a power line, burst into flames and later crashed.
Becca Wann, a senior on the basketball team, says the tight-knit athletic department at the private school with about 4,000 students was one of the things Doyle and Lewis loved about Richmond. Wann says, “It’s kind of fitting that in this tragedy, what they loved about this school is what’s helping us get through it.”
The school will hold a memorial service on campus Wednesday.
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
