Former Stillwater girls basketball coach Kendra Kilpatrick dies of cancer at 36

Kendra Kilpatrick, a beloved Stillwater High School girls basketball coach, died of breast cancer Saturday at 36.

"Friend, Mom, Educator, Mentor, Colleague and Coach," Oklahoma Girls Basketball Coaches Association wrote on social media. "It is with great sadness that (we) share the news our community has lost a great coach and person. Your faith over fear was an inspiration to us all! We love you Kendra."

On April 8, 2020, while pregnant with her second child, Kilpatrick was diagnosed with an aggressive form of Papillary breast cancer.

Despite her illness, Kilpatrick chose to be an inspiration through her journey, which kept her on the sidelines as the Stillwater head coach. She had to miss practices and games as she battled through proton radiation treatment and multiple surgeries.

But despite it all, Kilpatrick stayed on the court and led Stillwater to the state tournament in 2022 for the first time since 2005. She was named the Oklahoma Girls’ Basketball Coaches Association Coach of the Year and coached in the Faith 7 Bowl this summer.

She served six seasons as the Stillwater head coach and seven as an assistant. Kilpatrick stepped down as the Stillwater coach at the end of March to be with her family.

More:How a letter inspired Stillwater's Kendra Kilpatrick to keep coaching through cancer battle

Coach Andrue Brown, who was the Stillwater girls assistant basketball coach and now the volleyball coach, remembers the perseverance of Kilpatrick.

“Our teams run last year,” Brown said. “We fed off her as a person and the fight that she had. But she did more than just basketball."

Brown filled in as the head coach when Kilpatrick went to her treatments on Wednesdays. When she couldn’t ride on the bus, Brown drove her to games, helped her up steps and opened water bottles for her throughout the team's run to the postseason.

“She was always the most positive person in every situation,” Brown said. “She refused to talk about herself, she was just always an example.”

Every month, Brown’s family holds a lunch for Stillwater students at his home. Kilpatrick routinely donated resources to help and made appearances to the event.

“She never really took much time for herself,” Brown said. “She always made it about everybody else that was around, no matter what they were doing. The impact she had on my life is above all her walk with Christ.”

Stillwater baseball coach Jimmy Harris spoke to his baseball team after practice on Monday and shared stories of Kilpatrick, who was a math teacher for some of the players.

“We were in coaches' Bible study together last year,” Harris said, “and we just got to know each other pretty well and we got to hear a lot of her stories. Probably the thing I’m going to remember about her more than anything is how selfless she was and how tough and strong and fearless she was and how she was such a believer. She just always wanted to do the right thing.”

During the 2021 basketball season, Moore coach Brent Hodges remembers having to step on the court as a referee for the junior varsity basketball game against Stillwater.

"It was the big COVID season," Hodges said. "Nobody would officiate that year, pretty much."

Two of Hodges' assistant coaches had COVID so he only had one assistant coach present. On the other side, Kilpatrick just had one assistant with her because her others were sick as well. With Hodges reffing alone, it took just about two minutes before Kilpatrick grabbed her whistle and began running up and down the floor to help.

'I can handle this, Kendra," Hodges said.

"No you can't," Kilpatrick responded, "you can't handle this. I got you."

Together, Kilpatrick and Hodges reffed the junior varsity game before coaching the varsity team. At halftime, a timer went off on Kilpatrick's watch and she pulled medicine out of her pocket.

"What are you doing?" Hodges asked.

"I have to take my chemo," Kilpatrick responded.

Hodges shook his head.

"Just what she had to go through that year," Hodges said. "Battling cancer, COVID and teaching all at the same time, that was unreal."

During her final coaching stint with Stillwater, The Oklahoman asked Kilpatrick what is one message she would like to leave.

“No matter what your situation is,” Kilpatrick said. “Whether it’s good or bad just continue to fight and try to be a light for others. Sometimes our situations aren’t good, sometimes it is good, but continuing to smile and continuing to just be a positive light for others would be the best thing that you can do.”

Visitation will be from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Dighton-Marler Funeral Home in Stillwater. Funeral services are set for 2 p.m. Thursday at Sunnybrook Christian Church in Stillwater. There will be a live webcast on the Dighton-Marler Funeral Home website for those that can not attend.