CAUSE OF DEATH: Republicans believe Basketballer, Caleb White, died suddenly from Covid-19 vaccine complications.
The No. 3 high school basketball player in Alabama died Thursday after collapsing on the court while playing the game he loved.
Pinson Valley High School senior Caleb White, 17, became ill around 1:15 p.m. while training with his teammates, according to his grandfather.
“Heartbroken,” Pinson Mayor Joe Cochran wrote in a Facebook post. “No words can be gathered to provide comfort to a family and community experience the loss of young life.
“I was honored to know Caleb personally and loved the spirit he carried. Life is fleeting. Enjoy every day as the treasure it is. I know Caleb did.”
“Caleb was an honor student, very respectful, high intellect, excellent role model, phenomenal basketball player,” added Varnadoe.
He suddenly dropped to the ground and was rushed to the hospital, but doctors couldn’t revive him, George Varnadoe Jr. said on Facebook.
“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.”
White collapsed at 1:12 p.m. Thursday, and life-saving measures were performed until paramedics arrived. He was pronounced dead just over an hour later at a nearby hospital.
“Our thoughts and prayers go out to Caleb’s family, his classmates and basketball team and extended school family,” AHSAA Executive Director Alvin Briggs said in a release. “He was an outstanding student-athlete and role model.”
