LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WHAS11) -- The gym at Holy Cross may have been empty for a short while Wednesday afternoon, the court taking a break from the sounds of dribbling and sneakers squeaking that normally fill the walls, like they have for decades. On the wall, photos of those who've made their mark on the Holy Cross hardwood, among them, Christi Hester.
"She definitely brought out the best in whatever your game offered," Danielle Wiegandt said. "She was a very good basketball player, so she could do pretty much anything. She wasn't just a shooter. She wasn't just a rebounder."
Wiegandt played alongside Christi on the 1993-1994 girls "A" state championship team. Wiegandt, now the president of her alma mater, said their friendship goes back to their elementary school years.
"I know a lot of people know her for basketball but she was a very good volleyball player, a really good softball player, so we played almost every sport together growing up," Wiegandt, a year above Christi, said.
Wiegandt said Christi was a selfless teammate who was willing to take on any role to better her team, which she had to do often on the Holy Cross basketball team. Years later while serving as her maid of honor, Wiegandt saw her friend start a new team with a then-director of basketball operations named Chris Mack, who was officially named Wednesday as the newest Louisville men's basketball head coach.
"Chris is a person of integrity. He's going to bring that respect back to the program," Wiegandt said. "He's going to run it with integrity. He's going to do things the right way."
Christi's playing days are over - having been runner-up to Kentucky's Miss Basketball in 1996 and a member of Dayton's Hall of Fame - but she still stays actively involved with the game.
"She is as much a part of that coaching staff as any of his assistants," Wiegandt said. "I know that they talk about basketball at home. They break down film together."
While it has been more than 20 years since Wiegandt and Mack took the court together, Wiegandt said she hopes with the Macks and their three children moving to Louisville, there's a chance to see their daughters recreate the hardwood magic they enjoyed all those years earlier.
"My daughter will be here and another teammate's daughter will, so we'd love to have a second-generation success," she said.
Wiegandt said she has spoken with Mack since they decided to leave Xavier for Louisville. She said the Macks made a family decision to move and their conversations have mostly focused on ways she can help them settle back in town.
►Contact reporter Dennis Ting at dting@whas11.com. Follow him on Twitter (@DennisJTing) and Facebook.