Joyce Hedlund, the longtime tennis coach at Mercer Island, died Wednesday morning after suffering a stroke earlier in the week.

Mercer Island athletic director Craig Olson said Hedlund, who would have turned 67 next week, was having lunch with friends on Monday and she began slurring her words. She was rushed to Overlake Medical Center where doctors discovered a blocked carotid artery.

She died at 10:05 a.m.

"She is a legend," Olson said. "She has been in this community for years. She was an elementary school teacher, an alternative school teacher and her longtime involvement with the tennis community, obviously.

"It's quite a loss."

The Islanders had recently won a championship at the KingCo tournament. It was the seventh title for the boys under Hedlund. The girls team won 10 league titles and nine state titles, while the boys won a total of four state titles.

I just found out about this a few minutes ago. I will update this with more information as I receive it. She was definitely a legend in the local tennis community, one of the first coaches I had the pleasure to interview when I was first starting out.

I recently spoke the boys and girls captains of the Mercer Island tennis team. Here is what they had to say about Hedlund:

Julia Zook, Sr.

"Instead of dwelling on the sad stuff, we focus more on all the things that she did for us and how much we laughed and had fun with her."

"She always thought about others before she thought about herself, which not many people do, especially these days. The fact that she never put herself before anybody else had a really lasting impact."

Max Franklin, Sr.

"She focused on making sure that we had the best time possible, not necessarily trying to change anything about our games, but using what we have and doing the most she can with that."

Julia Schubach, Sr.

"She wasn’t just a coach. She was a friend and someone who was always there for us."

Valerie Gage, Sr.

"She was the gravity, the center of everything on our team. Next year it’s going to be really hard to pick it back up where she left off, because no one can really fill her shoes."

I am working on a story for Thursday's paper. I will update this with any other information I receive.