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Gold and Black Illustrated, Vol 26, Digital 3

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GOLD AND BLACK ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 26, ISSUE 3 21 BY BRIAN NEUBERT BNeubert@GoldandBlack.com C aleb Swanigan felt light-headed and wobbly. He'd just run a series of sprints and had lost his bearing, maybe if only for a moment. Standing near-by, Roo- sevelt Barnes feared his newly adopt- ed son might pass out. Worried about this very sort of thing, he'd already brought Swanigan to a heart special- ist to make sure this kind of work was safe. "Because he was so fat," Barnes re- calls. Had the massive eighth-grader gone down that day, Barnes would have been there to catch him — that symbolism would have been rich — but even for a former NFL linebacker who still looks the part even as a 57-year-old today, that battle might not have end- ed well for him. It mostly likely would have resulted in a tumble to the floor alongside, or under, Swanigan and his considerable heft. The kid had weighed nearly 350 pounds when Barnes took him in and this was only a few months later. That workout that day took its toll. "I was really tired," Swanigan remembers now, years later. "Just exhausted." Not so exhausted, though, that he was ready, or willing, to leave. There were still free throws to shoot. "'I've got to finish, got to finish,' " Barnes remem- bers being told. "I had to make him stop." The next day, they were right back at it, Swanigan running those same sprints, shooting those same free throws. Today, Barnes recalls that day while lean- ing back in a courtside seat in Mackey Arena, watching Swanigan practice with his Pur- due team. Today, about a hundred of those pounds are gone and Swani- gan stands 6-foot-9. He's one of the best freshmen in col- lege basketball, maybe on the verge of being one of its best big men, period. And he plays for one of the best teams in col- lege basketball. There have been questions raised about Barnes' intent in his eventual adoption of the young boy who bounced in and out of homelessness as a youth, his family persevering through his father's bouts with addic- tion, among other hard realities. He has called 'HE'S A MACHINE' A relentless worker, Swanigan has helped Purdue to new heights Tom Campbell

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