Family and friends will gather tonight to honor Pinson Valley High School basketball standout Caleb White.
The 17-year-old senior point guard died Thursday after collapsing at the school during a pickup game with his teammates.
The Jefferson County Coroner’s Office on Monday said it will be several weeks before the cause of death can be determined. White’s mother said he died of cardiac arrest.
The vigil will be held at 6 p.m. at Pinson Valley High School.
Caleb’s death has shocked and devastated those who knew and loved him.
“Caleb had such a big heart,’’ said his grieving mother, Charlette White, in a previous interview with AL.com. “Everybody knows him as a basketball player and he was a great athlete and student, but Caleb was a great person.”
Caleb was described as passionate, compassionate, a leader and loyal to his core.
“When he loved, he loved hard,’’ White said.
Caleb collapsed on the gym floor at the school Thursday. Life-saving measures – an AED and CPR – were taken at the school until paramedics arrived and continued once Caleb arrived at St. Vincent’s East.
He was pronounced dead at 2:23 p.m.
White said there was no sign that her son hadn’t been feeling well. “I can’t make sense of it,’’ White said.
Caleb had attended Pinson Valley High School for all four years, where he was an honor student as well and had a knack for math.
“This has definitely been a tragedy for everyone involved,’’ said Jefferson County Schools Superintendent Walter Gonsoulin, who was wearing a ribbon donning the high school’s colors.
“This young man was a very talented student and athlete.”
“He was very much loved and admired by the faculty and staff and his colleagues – the student body there at Pinson Valley,’’ Gonsoulin said.
