VOORHEESVILLE — Last Thursday, the girls on the Guilderville swim team wore T-shirts they had made for their meet at Burnt Hills. The shirts said, "This one’s for you Ed."

Their assistant coach, Edward David Tilley Sayer, had died the day before. He was 22 and had bravely battled cystic fibrosis for a long time.
"We all loved him," said Stephenie Bintz, 15, a junior at Guilderland High School who has been on the team four years. "We all called him Ed...He’d tell us to do the hardest thing in the world, yet he’d make it fun. He’d encourage us."
All the girls on the team — from both Voorheesville and Guilderland — knew their coach had cystic fibrosis, Bintz said, but, she went on, "He didn’t let it affect him in the pool. He never complained."
"He was always very upbeat and happy," agreed Katie Linehan, 17, a captain of the team; she’s a Guilderland senior who has been on the team since eighth grade. "That was part of the reason we never knew how sick he was."
She also said, "He was very fun, but he took swimming very seriously."

Sayer had graduated from Clayton A. Bouton High School in Voorheesville and gone on to earn a bachelor’s degree at Clarkson University in Potsdam. He was a semester away from completing a master’s degree at the time of his death.
"He swam for Voorheesville," said Ms. Linehan. "He had a lot of stories, which is why we bonded so well. We could talk to him about school and teachers and SAT’s, and the stresses."
Mr. Sayer had been an assistant coach for the team for just this season, which is two months old, yet the bonds he formed were strong, said the girls on the team. With several hours of daily practice and meets besides, Ms. Linehan said, "You spend more time with the team than with your parents."
"He never told us how sick he was," said Ms. Linehan. "Every day, he would go to Albany Med...I researched cystic fibrosis to find out more about it," she said.

She learned it is a hereditary disease of the exocrine glands characterized by the production of abnormally viscous mucus, usually resulting in chronic respiratory infections.
"He carried a little oxygen tank; he called it his buddy," said Ms. Linehan.
"I’m the kind of person who could get mad at a disease," she said, noting her coach was more tempered. As he waited for a lung transplant, she said, he told her matter-of-factly, "You have to be sick enough to get one but healthy enough to survive."
The last time she talked to him was Monday night, Oct. 3. He called from Albany Medical Center Hospital. "He gave me workouts for the week. He said he was tired. He asked how practice was," said Ms. Linehan.
"We did the whole set he gave us," she said of the prescribed practice regimen. "After he died, we continued doing the sets."
Ms. Linehan was the first on the team to learn of Coach Sayer’s death. On Wednesday, during her lunch period, she said, "My Dad came to get me to go to the hospital to see him...He died before we could leave."

She broke the sad news to her Guilderland teammates.
"After I composed myself, I told the girls," said Ms. Linehan. "I wanted them to hear from someone really close to them...We cried probably like a good hour."
It was hard to go to the next practice, she said. "Every day, Ed would be standing there, waiting for us to go into practice," she said.
Thursday’s meet was harder still. Referring to Head Coach Walter Lane, Ms. Linehan said, "Walt gave us the option of canceling the meet. I spoke up right away and said Ed wouldn’t want us to. It was unanimous."
"Thursday was the meet," said Ms. Linehan. "It was tough. I felt I had to lead the team. A lot of girls cried on the bus. I swam my event but, after that, I just couldn’t pull it together anymore....I couldn’t not be emotional. Some of the girls thanked me for keeping it together."
The team had to switch to a celebratory mode by Sunday. "Ed wanted bagpipes and dancing instead of a sad funeral," said Ms. Linehan.

On Sunday afternoon, Edward Sayer’s family and friends came together to celebrate his life. The three-hour celebration was held at the Colonie Country Club by his parents, Tam and Stuart Sayer, and his sister, Virginia.
"The entire team wore pink shirts," said Ms. Bintz. "His favorite color was pink. He was adorable," she said. "He loved pink."
On the Thursday before he had died, he had coached the team by himself, said Ms. Linehan. "He was sitting there in a pink shirt and blue headband," recalled Ms. Linehan. I said, ‘Ed, what are you wearing"’ He said, ‘Sometimes you’ve just got to accessorize.’"

So, in memory of that, all the girls on the team wore pink shirts and blue headbands to Sunday’s celebration, said Ms. Linehan.

Many of Coach Sayer’s words still resonate in Ms. Linehan’s head.
"One quote he’d always say is ‘That is outstanding.’...When someone would tell him, ‘Oh, Ed, I just swam this good,’ that’s what he’d say. Just the way he said it was priceless," recalled Ms. Linehan.

She warmly recalled something else Ed Sayer had said to her.
"I was swimming alone in my lane. He’d coach me on my technique. He’d be telling me to do this or that and I’d bust on him and harass him a little. He’d say, ‘I’m not saying I’m God’s gift to swimming...’
"One of the girls said this week, "You know what" He was a gift.’"

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Memorial contributions may be made to the local Cystic Fibrosis Fund: Donna M. Crandall Foundation, 50 Traditional Land, Loudonville, NY 12211.