Andrew Smith, a former college basketball star who family and friends described as a devout Christian and good to the core, passed away on Tuesday morning after a long and hard battle with cancer. He was only 25 years old.
The former center from Butler University was first diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2013 while he was playing basketball overseas. After going through a bout of chemotherapy, the cancer was gone but it came back again in August 2015, this time in the form of leukemia. After getting diagnosed the second time, doctors told him that his chances of survival were not good. He spent the last few weeks in and out of the hospital, and it was reported late last week that his death would be imminent.
His wife Samantha first made the information of his passing public, tweeting to her followers, “Andrew peacefully passed away in his sleep and in my arms as I told him I loved him this morning. Love you always, Smith.”
Boston Celtics head coach Brad Stevens was formerly the head coach at Butler when Smith played there. The two were close and during Smith’s ordeal, Coach Stevens was one of the people that constantly visited and called to check up on him. He even skipped a game last Thursday to visit his former player, when it was revealed that he didn’t have many more days left.
In an emotional tweet, Stevens wrote, “To the toughest guy I ever met – Thank you, Andrew. We love you and will always be inspired by you.”
