Chris Early, 25, coached youth league basketball

In what would be his final email ever to his 25-year-old son, Steve Early wrote from Casablanca about 11 p.m. Moroccan time that he was eating dinner in an exotic restaurant and that all of a sudden, to his surprise, he looked up from his Dorado fish to see belly dancers gyrating nearby.

He attached a couple of pictures to the email, urging his son Chris to “make good decisions,” have a great week and promising to “talk with you when I get back.”

As always, he ended by saying “I love you.”

Chris Early soon replied.

“Thanks for the updates and the pics, dad. You will be home b4 you know it! I miss you and I love you! Love, Chris.”

It was their last communication. Steven Christopher Early, called Chris by everyone, was fatally injured only a few hours later when his 2002 Ford Explorer rolled four times after he exited at Delk Road from I-75 North to go to his parents’ home in east Cobb. He died July 31, two weeks later.

His father, an IBM executive, was in North Africa on business. His mother Linda was in in Alabama visiting family. So Chris, who had his own place in Kennesaw, wanted to spend some time with his sister Meghan, 20, even though it was well after midnight.

Police say his injuries were so severe he wasn’t expected to make it to Grady Memorial Hospital, and his parents see the two weeks he lived as a “gift from God.”

The student at Kennesaw State University, where he was majoring in sports management, had been watching two close friends perform at a Buckhead nightclub before heading home and planned to do volunteer work the next day at KSU’s Catholic Center.

“How quickly life can change,” said Steve Early, 54. “We always said ‘I love you’ to each other in person, texts and emails. My advice to parents — tonight, make sure you tell your kids you love them. Give them a hug. You never know when you won’t have that opportunity again.”

Mr. Early had always loved sports, having played tennis at Pope High School, as well as some basketball until coaches told him he needed to grow eight inches over one summer to make the team. He coached youth league basketball and was still doing so until he died. He will be buried Saturday “in his coaching outfit,” Steve Early said, but also in a sports coat because, “in his mind, that’s what a coach should look like.”

Anthony Hardy, 45, of Acworth, whose son Jordan, 11, was coached by Mr. Early , said Mr. Early was “a great role model and knew all aspects of basketball. He would sit down with my son and just talk, tell him not to get angry if he missed a shot, to be obedient to his parents. He left a very positive mark on our son’s life.”

He made similar impressions on his friends.

Andrew Horsman, 25, said Mr. Early had been his best friend since high school. He plans to save a spot for his buddy on the pulpit when he gets married.

“We will hold a space for him,” Mr. Horsman said. “He will be listed in the program and invitations as a groomsman. It will be like he’s there.”

Andrew Zellman, 26, of Buckhead, said he has known Mr. Early since moving into the same east Cobb neighborhood in 1993.

“He was my first friend in Atlanta and has been one of my closest friends for over 15 years,” he said. “This is just awful.”