SULPHUR, Okla. ― Beloved Sulphur assistant football coach and teacher Jeffrey Nye was killed in a tragic accident Monday night. Nye was remembered by family, friends, coworkers, and students on Tuesday. Daniel Armbruster reports.

Loved ones of longtime Sulphur resident and football coach Jeffery Nye say he was a man who loved his family and community.

On Monday evening, Jeffery Nye and longtime friend H.C. Rackley were traveling down County Road 1660 just outside of Roff. They came upon a railroad crossing without lights or crossing guards, where Nye’s jeep was struck by a train.

Now an entire community is in shock.

Jim Dixon is the head football coach at Sulphur High School. He watched Jefferey Nye grow up on the field, and was his football coach in the 1980s. Nye would eventually become a football coach on that same field himself.

"A tremendous coach and tremendous teacher, he had a lot of great relationships with kids and they all looked up to him," Dixon says.

"He had so many people love and respect him."

Nye, and his friend, H.C. Rackley, were traveling down a dirt road just outside of Roff in rural Pontotoc County, when according to the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, a train traveling at 42 miles per hour collided with his Jeep.

"Just the engine part of the train was over 300 tons, so 300 tons in just the engine versus a 4,000 or 5,000 pound vehicle does a lot of damage," says James McKee of the Oklahoma Highway Patrol.

Nye was ejected from the vehicle, and pronounced dead at the scene. Rackley remains in stable condition at Valley View Hospital in Ada.

Students remember Nye as a great coach.

"He was a calm coach, he was one that would encourage you to do better, but tell you what was wrong at the same time," says Sulphur High School senior football player Colton McKenzie.

McKenzie says the tragedy has been hard on his teammates.

"Last night I think there was 12 people at my house, and we were sitting in a circle crying, and you can't do anything about it.”

“It's nothing compared to what the family is going through, but we're taking it pretty hard."

Terrel Billings is Nye's cousin. His son coached with Nye at Sulphur.

"I feed cows right next to him, and every time he comes by if he's got a minute, he'll stop and holler at me, and it makes me think a lot more of him that way."

McKenzie says his coach will be missed, but that the grieving process has just begun.

"To have somebody that was with you from summer pride to week 16, it's just…it hasn't really hit me yet, and it will soon.”

Nye leaves behind a wife and two daughters. A scholarship fund has been set up for his two daughters at the Community Bank of the Arbuckles in Sulphur.