Former Purdue basketball star Caleb Swanigan has passed away
natural causes??? geez. very tragic.
25 year old athletes don't usually die of natural causes. how bizarre. feel for his family and loved ones. RIP sir.
They do if they have heart ailments. Rare, but it has happened and will again, unfortunately.
If he had previous heart ailments (like from birth), the team doctors would have noticed it. And, it would likely be included in the new reports regarding his passing. Too many young athletes die of heart failures over the last couple of years.
RIP young man
Wilton Speight disagrees. He isn't confident in the medical services provided at Purdue
Look up Stephen Curry's best friend who played for NBA leagues and m at foreign leagues and had cardiac arrest playing basketball. These heart problems aren't always detectable. Granted though most are found but nothing is ever 100% when conducting these physicals.
i googled him because i was curious to see what natural causes could actually mean. There's pictures of him very over weight just 1-2 years removed from the NBA. I recall him having weight issues, and I'm guessing without the rigor of bball, he fell off quite a bit. But to go from that to dying is tragic - he clearly had some other underlying health issues, since, as you say.. to go from an elite athlete to that at 25?
Very sad to see
maybe he had HCM
Word from people on Reddit is that he struggled with his weight as a child then got it under control for his basketball career then as his basketball career came to an end he began struggling with his weight, the pandemic exacerbated his weight gain, and he was ~600 pounds recently
Oh man, poor guy. So young and he was a pretty great player. He was very Tractor-Traylor-ish who dealt with the same problems. RIP to both.
Good lord, 600??????
Sounds like a massive eating disorder. Sad that he couldn't get it under control.
Sounds like it. This from a 2017 ESPN article did not age well.
https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/18523734/purdue…
more info at hammerandrails: https://www.hammerandrails.com/2022/6/21/23176688/purdue-all-american-caleb-swanigan-has-died
Thanks for sharing that. Knew he was a beast on the court from watching him play but didn't know much about his personal story.
Some basketball related tidbits from his all american year (for those too lazy to click):
He is the only major-college player (and one of two players total) to record 600 points, 400 rebounds and 100 assists in a season
He joins legendary Tim Duncan of Wake Forest (1996-97 season) as the only players in the last 25 years to average at least 18.5 points, 12.5 rebounds and 3.0 assists in a season.
Swanigan is the only player in the last 31 years (since the 1985-86 season) with at least 640 points, 430 rebounds and 100 assists.
His 28 double-doubles are the most for a player in Big Ten history and 13th most for a player in NCAA history, leading the country in that category.
He set Purdue’s single-season rebounds record by almost 100 rebounds
Also:
After initialing [sic] committing to play for the Michigan State Spartans he flipped his commitment and chose to play for the Purdue Boilermakers.
RIP young man
Reminds me of Tractor Traylor, although he was in his 30's.
RIP, Caleb. You overcame and accomplished much in your 25 years.
He was a great basketball player. Hated playing against him - not in the same way that I hated playing against other centers like Haas. He shot 44% from 3 point land his sophomore year which is just wild for a 6-9 center
I didn’t know Mercury Hayes also played basketball.
That's stunning. Overcame a really bad childhood and seemed like a good guy. Was giving back to help others not have to go through what he went through. And I enjoyed watching him play. Sad.
Oh wow - that is just terrible, he had his whole life in front of him.
RIP Caleb
Damn. I remember him tearing it up in black and old gold. A real shame. Rest in peace and prayers for him and his family
God that’s sad. UofM was a finalist for him if I recall. Too young… RIP.
RIP Caleb. Great player. Depression is a real issue. Breaks my heart it took over this young man's life
Jeez, that is really sad. He was a heck of a player at Purdue. 25 is just way, way too young.
Dang-- feels like we were just playing this guy a couple of months ago. WAAAAYYY too soon.
My son will be 25 in September He is 6ft 6 and weights roughly 300 lbs. He played D3 football at about 260 and has put on a lot of bad weight since he stopped playing. This scares the shit out of me.
I just today saw this touching piece about Caleb Swanigan in the Indy Star. The columnist did a good job portraying the triumphs and ultimately the tragedy of Caleb's life story.