Caleb Swanigan

When his mother decided to move the family to Houston, his older brother Carl Jr., concerned that Caleb would keep gaining weight if he moved with his mother, called his former AAU basketball coach, Roosevelt Barnes, a former three-sport star at Purdue who played on the school's 1980 Final Four team and now a successful sports agent.

Barnes, living in Fort Wayne, Indiana, agreed to take Caleb in if he could adopt him and raise him as his own son.

Barnes adopted Swanigan prior to his 8th grade year.

Barnes addressed Swanigan's eating habits and, after receiving clearance from a cardiologist, began putting him through workouts similar to those Barnes himself went through in college.

By the time Swanigan finished high school, he had slimmed down to 260 lb.

Caleb Sylvester Swanigan (April 18, 1997 – June 20, 2022) was an American professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA).

He played college basketball for the Purdue Boilermakers.

In the fall of 2011, Swanigan attended a basketball camp led by NBA former coach John Lucas after Roosevelt Barnes convinced Lucas to let him into the invite-only camp in Louisville.

When it came to selecting his high school, Swanigan's guardian Barnes said, "When he chose his high school, his high school had never really done much in the tournament, and his goal was to win a state championship at a school where that had never been done before."

Swanigan attended Homestead High School and wore the same number as Barnes, number 44.

As a senior, he was named Indiana Mr. Basketball and led Homestead to a first-ever state title.

He was ranked as a top-20 national prospect in his class.

He was named a McDonald's All-American.

Swanigan averaged 22.6 points and 13.7 rebounds as a senior.

Academically, Swanigan maintained a 3.1 GPA and graduated in three years instead of the usual four.

Swanigan finished his career at Homestead with records for career points (1,649) and rebounds (1,048), as well as the single-season points (704) and rebounding records (424).

He was also second all time for career blocks (106) and assists (204).

He completed his senior season in the 2014–15 academic year for Homestead High School in Fort Wayne, Indiana, who went on to win the first state championship in the school's history.

Swanigan was named Indiana's Mr. Basketball and a McDonald's All-American.

Swanigan originally committed to Michigan State University, but later decommitted and committed to Purdue University.

He was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week three times, a record at Purdue.

He was also named to the Big Ten All-Freshman Team and also received a National Freshman of the Week award.

Swanigan finished the season with 10.2 points per game and 8.3 rebounds per game.

During his sophomore year, Swanigan was named the Big Ten Player of the Year and first-team All-Big Ten, and was a unanimous first-team All-American.

The elder Swanigan, who died in 2014 from complications from diabetes, was 6ft 8in and weighed nearly 500 lb at his death.

By the time Swanigan was entering eighth grade, he was 6ft 2in and 360 lb. His father had many brushes with the law, battled drug addiction for most of his adult life, and physically assaulted his wife.

According to a story in Bleacher Report, Swanigan was accidentally dropped by his mother as an infant, leaving a bruise on his face; this incident led her to move with her children to Salt Lake City.

For the next decade, the family bounced between Indianapolis and Utah; he recalled that he lived in five different homeless shelters and attended 13 different schools by the time he was 13.

Swanigan qualified for the 2014 U17 World Championship Team, beating out twenty other players vying for a spot to make the 12-man squad.

Swanigan played in the U17 World Championship Game.

The team finished with a 7–0 record and earned a gold medal in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, extending the USA's total record at the U17 World Championship Game to 23–0.

He finished the series with 8.0 points per game and 5.7 rebounds per game, and was the most efficient player on the U17 team, with a 69.6 shooting percentage.

He was ranked among the top prep players in the national class of 2015 by Rivals.com, Scout.com and ESPN.

He was a finalist for the 2017 Karl Malone Award, given to the nation's top power forward.

He was selected 26th overall in the first round of the 2017 NBA draft by the Portland Trail Blazers.

Over his three-year NBA career, Swanigan had two stints with the Trail Blazers; he also played for the Sacramento Kings.

Swanigan grew up in an unstable home due to his father, Carl Swanigan Sr., who had a crack cocaine addiction.

Swanigan's mother, Tanya, had six children.

Swanigan moved between Utah and Indianapolis during his youth, spending time in homeless shelters.

Swanigan inherited two key features from his biological father—height and a tendency to obesity.