Michigan State students held a vigil on Wednesday night in honor of Lacey Holsworth, an 8-year-old cancer patient who passed away shortly from returning from cheering on the Spartans in the NCAA tournament.

In front of the school’s rock painted in honor of Lacey, Spartans coach Tom Izzo gave a moving speech about what the young fan who befriended Adreian Payne nearly two years ago meant to the team and the entire Michigan State community.

“Her parents told me tonight she was smiling when she died,” he said. “I’m not sure I would be that tough. I’m not sure my players would. And I’m not sure you would. So if you can take something from a bad situation and make it good — when you’re struggling, finals coming up, tough times, something going wrong at home — think how lucky you are to have what you have.

“And learn from her that you don’t have to be the biggest, the strongest to be tough. You just got to have a mentality. And mentality has no size. I know they want me to tell you to try not to shed a lot of tears over it because she got to live her last month like no people in America. And we were all part of that.”

(Thanks to Collegespun for sharing)