By Maggie Downs
Enquirer staff writer

Few people ever saw Stephanie Wilson without her blonde hair tied back into a ponytail. The 19-year-old preferred denim to dresses. And the only time she carried a purse was to the prom.

Wilson, who died Sunday morning, was a sports lover to the core.

She died during an epileptic seizure, but the family is waiting for final test results.

Wilson grew up with two older brothers, Ben, 25, and Nick, 23, who steered her toward sports.

"Instead of doing other things with her, me and my brother would be in the back yard tossing, and she would come toss with us," Ben Wilson said. "I guess that's where she fell in love with athletics."

The 2003 Bellevue High School graduate played volleyball, softball, basketball and soccer - and excelled at all of them.

"Those letter jackets the kids wear, you couldn't put another bar on hers. There are already too many of them," said Garey Glancy of Bellevue, who was Wilson's assistant softball coach during her junior and senior years.

"She was one of those underrated players who could do anything," Glancy said.

She was president of the National Honor Society during her senior year, but she devoted herself to softball. As number 00, she was player of the year in Kentucky for Class A schools in softball.

Most recently, she was an assistant coach of the high school team and played in the Bellevue summer leagues.

"When she was a senior, it was like she was a coach on the field," said Bellevue High School softball coach John Atkins.

"She understood the style and the philosophy behind our games."

Her mother, Janice Wilson, was a fixture at the team's games. She kept a scorebook, but was also on hand in case Wilson had any seizures. The entire team knew about Wilson's epilepsy.

"At the beginning of every game, I would tell the umpires that if (Wilson) goes down, I'm on the field, no matter where the ball is," Atkins said.

She was a player who liked things to go her way on the field. Otherwise, she'd cop an attitude and plunk down her helmet, Glancy said.

"She never claimed the title of team leader, but she really was," he said.

Wilson, who stretched almost six feet tall, never had a driver's license because of her seizures. But she spent her free time with her friend Erica Glancy, going to the movies or walking around town.

She was also a full-time student at Northern Kentucky University, where she studied accounting.

This is the second recent loss for the Wilson family. Stephanie's father, Ralph Wilson, died unexpectedly in May. He suffered from cardiomyopathy, a disease that enlarges and weakens the heart.

"We lucked out with Bellevue being a small community," Ben Wilson said. "We're just blessed with a lot of friends and family around right now."

Visitation will be from 4 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at A.C. Dobbling & Son Funeral Home in Bellevue. A Mass of Christian burial will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday at Divine Mercy Parish Church in Bellevue. Burial will be in St. Stephen Cemetery in Fort Thomas.

Memorials can be made to the Stephanie M. Wilson Memorial Fund, in care of any Fifth Third Bank location in Northern Kentucky.

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E-mail mdowns@enquirer.com