Flower Mound, TX : Swimming coach dies in car crash on Sunday October 26th 2014.

The death of a Flower Mound youth swimming coach left children and parents grieving Sunday. Kyle Tilley, who worked for Lakeside Aquatic Club, died after his car was struck around 11:40 p.m. Saturday in The Colony. Another car driving at a high speed hit the rear of Tilley’s car on Sam Rayburn Tollway, just south of the Josey Lane overpass, authorities said. Tilley’s car went off the road and rolled before it came to stop in a grassy median. Tilley, 26, died at the scene. A passenger in his car was flown to Medical Center of Plano with serious injuries. The crash is under investigation by the Texas Department of Public Safety. Lonny Haschel, a DPS spokesman, said the driver “made an unsafe lane change” before hitting Tilley’s car. He said it’s too early to say what caused the crash. Tilley’s parents say a trooper who came to their home Sunday said their son had been the victim of a road rage incident and showed them handwritten statements of the two other drivers, both teenagers. The trooper told them the two cars were cutting each other off and chasing at a high speed before one of them struck Tilley’s car. “They wanted us to know up front that Kyle had done nothing wrong,” said Kyle’s father, Larry Tilley of Flower Mound. Kyle’s mother, Dona Tilley, said her son loved Star Wars, comic books and swimming. He joined the neighborhood swim team as a boy because his asthma and allergies held him back in other sports. She said her son enjoyed coaching but was considering a career as a firefighter or high school history teacher. He was working on his teaching certification and hoped to coach high school swimming, too. He worked as a substitute teacher at Flower Mound High School. Tilley had an knack for kids, she said, including difficult ones. He was previously a long-term substitute in a classroom of children with autism. He also took on a class of rowdy kids after several subs turned it down, his mother said. “That was the end of the trouble, and those kids loved him,” she said. His mother said Tilley was “my silver-linings guy” because of his upbeat attitude. Before Tilley began coaching for Lakeside Aquatic Club, he swam there. He also swam for Flower Mound High School and attended Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, Ark., on a swimming scholarship. Dan Snow coached Tilley at Lakeside Aquatic Club. He met Tilley when he was 8 years old and watched him grow up. He spent time with Tilley’s family Sunday after hearing of his death. At one swim competition, Snow watched as Tilley approached upset parents and calmed them down. “He went over to talk to them and cheered them up,” Snow said. “He had a way of making people feel better. At every competition, he tried to pump everyone up.” Source : Flower Mound youth swimming coach dies in car crash