By Brant Wilkerson-New
December 13, 2013

On June 21, Donna Burgess awoke to a text message from her daughter, Celeste.

“We’re on our way,” read the message, sent about 7:30 a.m. Central time.

Celeste Burgess had flown to Alabama to visit her brother Marcus Peoples for a few days, and Peoples and his wife, Leslie, were then taking her to an elite-level basketball camp at Auburn.

At 9:54 a.m., Donna Burgess wrote back, telling Celeste to let her know when they arrived.

When there was no reply after a few minutes, Donna said she sensed something was wrong, because if Celeste, 14, didn’t have a basketball in her hands, she had her phone — texting with friends or using Twitter — and she always replied, usually instantly.

Donna recalled telling her son, Caleb, 13, that she thought Celeste had been in an accident. “I don’t know why I said that,” she said last week.

Allen Burgess, Donna’s husband, tried to call the Peopleses and Celeste but couldn’t reach any of them. A few minutes later, he walked back into the room and turned off the television. Donna, resting on the couch, said she sat straight up.

“I said, ‘What happened?’ before he could even talk. ‘I said what happened to Celeste?’” Donna recalled. “He said, ‘She’s been in a bad accident.’

“I dropped my head. I felt it, but I didn’t know how bad it was.”

A Chrysler Town and Country minivan traveling 60 miles an hour had crossed a highway center line and hit Peoples’ Nissan Altima head-on. The van’s driver, Tammy Johnson, died at the scene. Two passengers in the van and the Peopleses suffered serious injuries and were taken to hospitals.

Celeste was critically injured and was flown by helicopter to Southeast Alabama Medical Center in Dothan. A doctor called and told the Burgesses that she had a 50-50 chance of surviving.

“After that, everything was like slow motion for me,” Donna Burgess said.

About 15 minutes later, Allen and Donna were driving a few blocks from their home when the phone rang again. Donna said: “When that number came up, I knew.”

She handed the phone to Allen. “The only thing he said was, ‘Yes, this is Celeste Burgess’ father,’” Donna said.

After a long pause Allen said, “Thank you,” and hung up, sitting in silence. He didn’t reply the first time Donna asked what the caller had said. She repeated the question.

“He said, ‘Celeste just expired,’” Donna said. “That’s the worst thing any parent can hear.”

Phenomenal talent

The trip to Auburn was the first big event of the summer for Celeste, who had planned to spend much of it away from home, at AAU tournaments and basketball camps.

Coach Rick Anderson of Mount Tabor, where Celeste started her high-school career, said he knew the first time he saw her play that she was special.

“She was just a phenomenal talent,” he said. “It was a no-doubter — she had Division I written on her.

“I would have been shocked if this kid had not made it to the WNBA, because that was what one of her goals was. She had the skills, but she had the drive. That was kind of the deal, she was headed to the WNBA. That’s what she wanted to do; she had a big career ahead of her.”

Celeste averaged 15 points and 6 rebounds as a freshman at Mount Tabor and, at 6 feet tall, had the skills to play every position. Recruiting interest came from across the nation, with programs such as Stanford and North Carolina in the mix.

Celeste, seeking tougher competition, transferred to New Hope Christian School in Thomasville in December 2012 to play for her AAU coach, Delaney Rudd.

“She played with a lot of heart and passion for the game, and you could just tell it was a kid that had the ambition to try to make basketball her future,” said Rudd, a former Wake Forest and NBA guard. “Every time you saw her play, you never had to worry about her giving the maximum effort.”

100 percent effort

Celeste Burgess did everything with maximum effort.

She was a member of the National Honor Society and had hopes of a career in family law after she finished playing pro basketball. At St. Peter's Church and World Outreach Center, she was recognized as a leader among its youth and was a mentor to younger children.

Known as “The Reverend” to teammates for her strong faith and spotless reputation, Celeste always greeted friends with a big hug.

Allen Burgess said that his daughter went out of her way to do the little things to make people feel special. She made it a point to let people know they were appreciated or to crack a joke if someone was feeling down.

“If she saw you standing to the side, and nobody was talking to you, she’d make it her business to go over to introduce herself to you and bring you over to meet other people,” he said.

Despite joining the New Hope team with the season already under way, Celeste quickly became one of the most well-liked players on the team, Rudd said. She was especially close with Aryn Tarver and Kristina King, but Rudd was said that Celeste never jumped into one clique.

“Being honest, that might have been on Tuesday,” he said. “On Wednesday, there might have been another group she was friends with. It was hard to say who she was best friends with.”

Tarver, a senior, knew Burgess through AAU basketball and was excited to take her under wing. The two became roommates at New Hope. “It was like sisterhood,” Tarver said. “Blood couldn’t have made us closer.”

Lasting impact

Celeste Burgess has not stopped inspiring teammates, friends and even strangers.

On the day of her funeral, the line went out the door of the sanctuary at St. Peter’s, which holds 2,700 people. Nearly every college coach who recruited her was there, her parents said. They also said that 60 people came forward at the altar call to make spiritual commitments to Jesus Christ.

Through the Celeste Burgess O.N.E. Foundation, established by her parents, six needy families received Thanksgiving dinners last month. There also will be a Christmas toy drive, and in the future, Donna plans to establish scholarships for local students.

The Mount Tabor and New Hope basketball teams are dedicating their seasons to Celeste. And at New Hope, her jersey hangs beside the locker-room door, so it’s the last thing players see before they take the court.

“Every day — before I go to sleep, when I wake up, before I take the court — she’s the first thing that goes through my mind, and the last thing that goes through my mind,” Tarver said. “Now I realize I’m playing for something more than myself.”

In Mount Tabor’s first game against North Forsyth, the Spartans tried to start the game with four players — leaving the open spot as a tribute. When forced to add a fifth player, she was positioned away from the action for the first minute of play.

“The thing I can honestly say, is she made me a better coach,” Anderson said. “Part of it, she made me a better human being … when she left this earth, I had to reevaluate myself.

“I was a little upset when she left (school) … it’s pretty trivial now, and you reevaluate what you’re doing, how you’re doing it and why you’re doing it.”

After the accident, Donna said she found herself reevaluating, wondering what would have happened had she not sent the text just before the collision.

“Of course my mind was like, if I wouldn’t have texted her… maybe she had her head down, maybe she could have saw it was coming and braced herself,” she said. “That was playing on me, but I’m over that.”

The Burgesses say there has been some healing, because they know that’s what Celeste would want.

“She was full of life,” Allen said. “It keeps you from being down, getting down. That wasn’t what she was about, she wanted to enjoy life.”

Still, the emotions get to Allen almost daily.

“The age; too soon,” he said. “That’s the sadness, and I still, about, almost every day can tear up about that. The kind of child she was. That’s most of what I think about, what hit me the hardest and the worst thing ever, because of the kind of person she was. The loving kind of person that this world needed, this world had, and this world needs more of — the loving kind.

“It’s a loss to the world, you know. It’s a loss to the neighborhood, a loss to the schools, a loss to the churches, everything that she brought to the table….”