A day before one student and one graduate died in a car accident in northern Haymarket, the Battlefield High School community lost another one of its own Aug. 14.

Jim Bent, an assistant basketball coach for the varsity boys team, died after suffering a heart attack while at his nearly-purchased vacation home in Woodstock. He celebrated his 50th birthday last month.

Born in Memphis, Tenn. and raised in Northern Virginia, Bent spent most of his life in the greater Gainesville area. Even though he did not have a coaching degree or prior varsity basketball coaching experience, he talked his way onto the BHS coaching staff as his son Tyler came up through the program, according to his sister Cindy Bent Findlay.

Bent is survived by his wife Lisa, who has helped manage the Bobcats basketball team, sons Austin and Tyler, both of whom graduated from Battlefield, as well as his mother, siblings, and extended family.

"He used to talk for hours about coaching strategy," recalled Findlay. "And he used to tell me on the phone, 'I found it. This is my dream job.'"

His impact on the basketball team is obvious in accomplishments. During his time on the sidelines, the boys earned three consecutive trips to the regional tournament and won the Cedar Run District regular season title this past season.

In the community, however, Bent's contributions are as personal as numerous. He set up a scholarship fund to which he dedicated his entire Battlefield paycheck as Bent successfully earned a living as a general contractor away from the game. He also coached for Northern Virginia Community College.

More than 40 past and present members of the school basketball team attended Bent's funeral this weekend along with scores of family, friends, colleagues and others who knew the man his sister Cindy Bent Findlay described as "a planner, a thinker and a saver."

"He found himself in coaching," she said. "He loved being in the gym. He loved just with all the kids, not just Tyler."

Dion Romeo is one such example. Findlay referred to Romeo and his former Battlefield teammate Jahmal Jones as Bent's "adopted sons."

"I don't know where I'd be without him. He set me up with school, basketball and he also got me a job with his mother," said Romeo, a 2009 BHS graduate that rode down to Christopher Newport University with Bent just two weeks ago.

Romeo talked about the relationships Bent would forge with the players in an effort to get to know them on a level beyond simply being their coach.

"A lot of times when the players wouldn't listen to the head coach, they would always listen to Coach Bent," said Romeo. "He understood the game and he understood the players individually."

Findlay explained that Bent "loved inspiring kids to play better, and learn the game, not just yell at them to run around."

Away from the court, Findlay said Bent "was just a big, big personality.

"He was never still," she said, mentioning that even on vacations, "he was fishing, he was go-carting, he was playing golf."

That sort of on-the-go mentality prevailed his whole life. When Bent was 17, he left home and decided to start working, according to Findlay.

"And he worked his 'a' off for his whole life and he made everything for himself," she said. "He was a realist about what he could do and what he couldn't do."

Bent came across on the court after games as a media-friendly source with a firm hand shake and a big smile, someone happy to dish about any topic addressed as well as talk about the success of his son Tyler, a standout on the program. During post-game interviews, head coach Al Ford often asked for his assistants' inputs and Bent came across as well informed with not just his players' performances but their attitudes too.

Girls basketball coach Eric McCaslin posted on the Battlefield Web site that the line of those that entered the funeral home to pay respects to Bent and his family stretched for hours.

"Jim was a part of Gainesville from its beginnings to today, and it was apparent," wrote McCaslin. "We don't always see the full impact of a person, but like a pebble making ripples in the water, you could see that Coach Bent had made a major impact in this community."

And on individuals.

"The lessons he taught me I will one day instill into my children and he will keep living through us," said Romeo.