Hunter Brown, an offensive lineman on the Air Force Academy football team, died suddenly on his way to class Monday morning. He was a 21-year-old cadet third class, the academy’s term for sophomore.
A statement from the Falcons football team said Brown “experienced a medical emergency while leaving his dormitory.” First responders from the academy were immediately called, but life-saving measures were unsuccessful.
His death is undergoing a routine investigation by agents of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations and the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office, according to the statement.
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Brown hailed from Lake Charles, Louisiana and went to Barbe High School, according to the Falcons website. He was pursuing a major in management and a minor in French, according to the statement, and completed back-to-back winning seasons with the Falcons over the last two years.
The academy’s head football coach, Troy Calhoun, said everyone there had been “so blessed and fortunate to have Hunter as a part of our lives.”
“He was a pure joy to coach and have as a teammate,” Calhoun said. “He was tough, a great worker, and no one unselfishly pulled harder for others than Hunter. His mom and dad, Candyce and Dustin, raised a wonderful son who made each of us a better person. We love our great brother, and our thoughts and prayers are with Hunter’s incredible soul and his family.”
The academy’s commandant of cadets, Brig. Gen. Paul Moga, spoke about Brown’s death at an assembly of the student body, known as the cadet wing, before classes Tuesday.
“It is with a heavy heart and profound sadness I share with you that we have lost one of our own,” he said, according to the statement. “He leaves behind friends, grieving teammates, a grieving cadet wing, and a devastated family.”
