Beloved Coach Fitts Dies after Cancer Battle

NORTH KINGSTOWN, RI—A beloved coach, mentor and inspiration for generations of students, athletes and friends, Joanne Fitts, has died.

Fitts died after a second round of a cancer battle early Sunday morning.

"The strength and courage with which she faced this terrible disease is a tribute to her and an example to us of what an incredible person she was. She will not be forgotten," a post on the "Thank Joanne Fitts" Facebook page read.

Fitts was best known as a top-notch volleyball coach. She also was an accomplished teacher and generous friend who died knowing she made a difference in so many lives.

"They were the times when her presence made my life more fun, more tolerable and definitely more loving," said Beth Sturgeon. "I can't help but think she's on the sidelines now, waiting for us to run off the court. There she stands smiling, holding her clipboard and waiting to coach us one last time. Thank you for being my teacher, coach and friend."

Funeral arrangements and a celebration of life will be held at a later date.

Providence Journal writer John Gillooly wrote that Fitts was "the quiet legend of Rhode Island high school girls sports."

I’m sure some of Fitts’ former North Kingstown High players would jokingly would say if I had heard Fitts at practice I wouldn’t have thought she was so quiet.

But that’s part of the special relationship between some great coaches and their players. The coaches often share with their players in practice a side of their personality that the public seldom sees.

In Fitts’ case, over the four decades that I watched her coach, she carried herself through a legendary career with an amazing sense of quiet dignity.

Here's Coach Fitts being inducted into the North Kingstown Hall of Fame: