Curtis Bray looked his players in the eye.

His defensive line was about to take the field against in-state rival Iowa at Kinnick Stadium in September 2012, and Bray had a message for them.

“Hey, man, it’s going to be a heavyweight fight. You’re going to get hit in the mouth. How will you respond to it? What will you do?” Bray preached to his players before that afternoon’s game.

During the fourth quarter, defensive end Roosevelt Maggitt allowed an Iowa tight end to get through his gap. Bray quickly pulled him off the field.

“I told you it was going to be a heavyweight fight. How will you respond? How will you respond, Rosy?” Bray asked Maggitt.

He hustled back onto the field.

“That right there was, ‘Man, this coach loves me,’” Maggitt said. “It made me want to go out there and play for him and the team.”

The defense stopped the Hawkeyes and secured the win that afternoon. Bray was all smiles afterward as the team celebrated. Nobody could forget that smile.

“He always had a particular smile about him that you could always look back and remember that smile,” said former ISU defensive end Rashawn Parker, who played two seasons for Bray. “He always had that smile to light up the room.”

Bray passed away the morning of Jan. 15 at the age of 43, leaving behind his wife, Heather, a daughter, Sydney, and a son, Colden Charles.

Rob Bowers of the ISU Department of Public Safety said an emergency call came to Ames Police at 6:27 a.m. on Jan. 15 and an emergency crew responded to the Bergstrom Football Complex. Bray was taken to Mary Greeley Medical Center in Ames at 6:45 a.m.

The cause of death had not been released. 

“Curtis Bray was a dear friend to me and to all he ever came in contact with,” ISU coach Paul Rhoads said in a statement. “He was a trusted and loyal assistant coach who always put the kids and the team in front of his work. We will miss him dearly.”

Bray arrived at Iowa State as part of Rhoads’ first staff in 2009, having previously coached alongside him at Pittsburgh. He spent the past five seasons in Ames coaching the Cyclones’ defensive line.

Before coaching, Bray was a prep star in high school, becoming the first defensive player to be named Gatorade National High School Football Player of the Year. He played collegiately for Pittsburgh from 1988-91 before later serving there as a coach for seven seasons, acting as linebackers coach when Rhoads was defensive coordinator.

Prior to arriving in Ames, Bray coached linebackers at Temple University.

“He would never tell you about (his success), because he was an extremely humble person,” said Jake Knott, who was a linebacker for four of Bray’s five seasons.

One day during Knott’s freshman season, Bray walked into the linebacker’s room where Knott and fellow freshman A.J. Klein were watching film.

“He came in and taught us a few little things that really helped us,” Knott said. “That, I think, has really went a long way in the development of me and A.J.”

“He didn’t coach our position. He didn’t have to do that. That stuck with me ever since.”

With the players in his position group, he went the distance. Bray, players said, knew the ins-and-outs of football. He knew what to expect and what it should look like.

There wasn’t much yelling with Bray. He found ways to motivate his players with other methods, and he always knew the perfect thing to say.

“He was very calm and cool and collected and could get messages across,” Knott said. “Whenever he would raise his voice or get after it a bunch, you knew it was time to go. You better be ready, because you respected the man so much.”

And he expected a lot of out his players, too.

“Everything you do, there’s always someone watching,” Bray would tell players. “So why not do it your best every time you step on the field?”

Bray’s motivation pushed players to take a step to the next level. Sometimes it kept players from giving up in difficult times.

After Rashawn Parker struggled with injuries during the 2009 season, Bray pushed him to keep working. Parker returned to the field the next season with a medical hardship and recorded 30 tackles, a career high.

“He never gave up on me. He gave me a chance,” Parker said. “He just reassured me to keep working hard and that hard work would pay off.”

He did the same for Maggitt, who recorded 33 tackles his senior year in 2012.

“He took me from just a regular football player to All-Big 12 honorable mention,” Maggitt said. “He had a really big impact on the way I played, my mindset in life and was just overall a good role model.”

Bray will be remembered as a friend, coach, father and husband. Most of all, players said, they won’t soon forget his smile.

“He had a good smile,” Maggitt said. “Just seeing coach Bray smile was awesome.”

“His smile actually made you feel like you were the only one in there with him, you feel special for being in there,” Knott said. “That’s just how he was with everybody.”

During an Iowa State camp for children near the end of Maggitt’s career, Bray gave his defensive lineman instructions.

“All right, Rosy, introduce yourself and show them the drills that we do,” Bray told him.

Maggitt has since become a defensive line coach himself at Blinn College. He is certain Bray’s legacy will carry on.

“I still do those drills that he taught me,” Maggitt said. “His legacy will forever live in me and I’m sure plenty others.”