Caleb White, the No. 3 high school basketball player in Alabama died Thursday after collapsing on the court while playing the game he loved.
The deceased was a student at Pinson Valley High School when he reportedly fell ill at 1:15 p.m. while working out with his teammates. He collapsed unexpectedly and was taken to the hospital, but George Varnadoe Jr. posted on Facebook that the doctors were unable to save him.
“At 17, he was dead!!!!” Varnadoe wrote, adding that his grandson was an “honor student, very respectful, high intellect, excellent role model, phenomenal basketball player.”
“Our whole family was really looking forward to his upcoming senior season and afterwards, playing for a D-1 school and then perhaps the NBA. But…..it wasn’t meant to be,” the grieving grandfather added.
“You see, everything that happens, happens on time, because God wouldn’t allow it to happen, if it wasn’t on time. And so it was with Caleb. We all have an appointment with God, one that you can’t reschedule.”
Varnadoe said that his grandson had a cardiac arrest, but the Jefferson County Coroner has not yet reached a conclusion, according to AL.com. White was declared dead at the hospital after experiencing a “medical emergency” at school, according to a message written to parents by Pinston Valley High School Principal Michael Turner.
According to the Alabama High School Athletic Association, the 6-foot-tall rising senior was a first-team all-state performer for his Pinson Valley squad and one of three contenders for Class 6A player of the year as a junior. According to ESPN rankings, Caleb was the third-best player in the state and the 43rd-best in the nation.
He was both a shooting guard and a point guard and was set to serve as the team’s captain for his final year at the school.
“Our thoughts and prayers go out to Caleb’s family, his classmates and basketball team and extended school family,” AHSAA Director Alvin Briggs said in a statement.
“He was an outstanding student-athlete who played in the North-South All-Star Basketball Game last month. He was an outstanding student-athlete and role model.”
