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NBA champion and former Los Angeles Lakers center Elden Campbell has died at age 57, his alma mater Clemson announced Wednesday.
The cause of death was not immediately known.
“We mourn the loss of Elden Campbell, our all-time leading scorer, All-American and three-time All-ACC player, who passed away at the age of 57,” Clemson said in a statement.
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Elden Campbell (41) of the Los Angeles Lakers takes a free throw during an NBA basketball game against the Washington Bullets at USAir Arena in Landover, Maryland on November 26, 1994. (Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
Campbell is also the winningest player in Clemson history, having played in a program-record 84 wins. He is also the leading scorer on the only Clemson team to win the ACC championship in program history.
Campbell played in the NBA for 15 seasons and, growing up in Inglewood, California, was a Lakers fan as a child. The 6-foot-11 center played eight and a half seasons for his boyhood team.
The Lakers selected Campbell in the first round of the 1990 NBA Draft out of Clemson.
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Elden Campbell (41) of the Detroit Pistons is in action against Shaquille O’Neal (32) of the Miami Heat in Miami, Florida, on May 25, 2005. (Bill Frakes/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)
Campbell defeated the Lakers in the NBA Finals while playing for the Detroit Pistons in the 2003-2004 season. Campbell played in 14 games during the Pistons’ run to the title.
Campbell played for six different teams throughout his career: the Lakers, Charlotte Hornets, Pistons, New Orleans Hornets, Seattle SuperSonics and New Jersey Nets. In 1,044 career games, he averaged 10.3 points per game, 5.9 rebounds per game and 1.1 assists per game.
Campbell earned the nicknames “Big E” and “Easy E” for his demeanor and style of play. Byron Scott, who was a teammate of Campbell during two different stints with the Lakers, said he was a “good guy.”
“I just remember his behavior. That’s why we nicknamed him ‘Easy E,'” Scott told the Los Angeles Times. “He was so cool, nothing rushed him. He was going to take his time. He was just easy. He was a good guy. I loved Easy, man.”
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Kwame Brown (right) of the Washington Wizards strips the ball from Elden Campbell (left) of the Charlotte Hornets in the second half at the Charlotte Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina, on April 5, 2002. (NELL REDMOND/AFP via Getty Images)
Another of Campbell’s former Lakers teammates and childhood friend, Cedric Ceballos, took to social media to mourn his death.
“This one hurt me to the core. We grew up together as kids,” Ceballos posted on Instagram.
