LENOIR CITY, Tenn. (WVLT) -- A high school student is dead, and the first day without him has been very tough for everyone in his school and the community.

Lenoir City High School freshman Coty Bluford died yesterday after a classmate collided with him during a flag football game in P.E. class.

Coty would have been celebrating his 15th birthday this Saturday.

Now, that birthday will never come, but those who knew Coty say they won't stop celebrating his life.

Jan Lord at A.J's Diner can't believe she won't be cooking any more burgers for Coty Bluford.

Lord says, "Coty was a great kid, I mean a great kid, he had a heart just as big as this town."

Jan says the town's heart breaks for Coty's family.

Lord says, "They're not alone, by any means, they are not alone."

But it's here, at Lenoir City High School, where Coty will be missed the most. He played football, basketball, and touched a lot of lives.

Assistant Football Coach Dominic Petrozzello says, "Personally I'm going to miss him, I'm going to miss him a lot."

Coaches say Coty was a leader. The rarest of young men who pushed to be the best at everything, but still took time for others.

Mike Zeller is the Lenoir City H.S. Football Coach, and he says, "He was always putting others before himself, and I think that's his testimony and that's what we need to remember him by."

Remembering Coty is tough for those who loved him.

Lenoir City High School Principal Steve Millsaps says, "It's a solemn place today."

Principal Steve Millsaps says he's impressed by how the entire school has come together. Counselors have helped, but Millsaps says the students have been leaning on each other since the shocking collission ended Coty's life.

Millsaps says, "Fortunately, the students I think, being young, they rebound quicker. And they've got a lot of support now with each other and that's one reason we wanted them back in school today."

These educators say they can't take the credit for the good qualities they saw in Coty. They say that came from his family.

Lenoir City Director of Schools Wayne Miller says, "I've never experienced an act of any more courage than Henry talking to the young man that had run into his son, telling him that it was okay."

The director of schools says Coty's friend was examined at the hospital but suffered no serious injuries in the collision.

Coty's funeral will be on what would have been his 15th birthday.

The family will receive friends Saturday from 4 to 7 p.m. at First Baptist Church in Lenoir City.

The funeral will follow.

Graveside services will be 2 p.m. Sunday at Lakeview Cemetary in Lenoir City.