Previous NBA player and Purdue Boilermaker Caleb Swanigan died from natural causes at 25 years old on Monday night at a Fort Wayne hospital, according to the Allen County coroner’s office. We heard the story again and again. Whenever Purdue basketball played between the years of 2015 and 2017 we heard it. What’s more, that was fine, since it was a decent story. It was the story of a young fellow who cherished dessert, cheesecake. And who apparently used food to comfort himself in these dreadful circumstances. At last he arrived at 360 pounds before he even set foot in secondary school. Swanigan found the middle value of 14.4 places, 10.4 bounce back, and 2.4 helps per game in two seasons at Purdue.
Purdue Head coach Matt Painter
“The Purdue basketball family is deeply saddened and devastated at the loss of Caleb Swanigan,” head coach Matt Painter said in a news release Tuesday morning. “Caleb was a very thoughtful individual and a gentle soul who excelled both on and off the court. He made a huge difference in everyone’s lives that he touched and he will be greatly missed.”
Swanigan was a star at Purdue, where he was an agreement All-American and the Big Ten Player of the Year as a sophomore, averaging 18.5 ppg, 12.5 rpg and 3.1 apg in the 2016-17 season. He was also a finalist for the Wooden, Naismith and Oscar Robertson Player of the Year awards that season too.
It was the narrative of a young fellow who experienced childhood in a difficult climate that included homeless shelters. Moving too and fro among Utah and Indiana with a mother attempting to put effort with six kids and a dad who had fallen to drug addiction. But then, at that point, something changed. Swanigan was the 2017 Big Ten Player of the Year and was a candidate for the Wooden Award, the national award for the best college basketball player. He left for the NBA Draft in 2017 and was pick 26th by the Portland Trailblazers.
“You think it’s something really small, but it just builds up,” he said. “One meal won’t kill you, but if it becomes three or four meals that are bad in a row, that’s when it starts to hurt your body.”
When he left West Lafayette
At the point when he left West Lafayette for the difficult territory that is the NBA, the one who helped him with overcome obesity and gave him a house is directing him into the universe of expert basketball, according to previous Exponent revealing.
Barnes emphasized to the Exponent that Swanigan was torn between testing his game at the next level and wanting to finish his degree, Barnes said.
“It was a very close, tough decision for him,” Barnes said at the time.”
Yet, eventually, the challenge of testing his gifts in the NBA was simply excessively appealing. Furthermore, that challenge will be a major one, Barnes said then, at that point, however he realizes Swanigan is more than fit for meeting it.
“He’s just scratching the surface of how good he’s going to be,” he said. “So I’m proud of where he is, but I know he can be so much better.”
For Caleb Swanigan the race is over. News broke early toward t that he had died at age 25. Initial reports show a passing of natural causes. It’s heartbreaking regardless of the reason. His colleagues from his time at Purdue started tweeting about it this morning. The young man who defeated a lot and put everything out on the floor every single night was no more.
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