The sudden death of Pinson Valley High School basketball standout Caleb White has been a shock to his family, who is remembering him not just as a great baller, but an even better young man.

“Caleb had such a big heart,’’ said his grieving mother, Charlette White. “Everybody knows him as a basketball player and he was a great athlete and student, but Caleb was a great person.”

Caleb was described as passionate, compassionate, a leader, and loyal to his core.

“When he loved, he loved hard,’’ White said.

Caleb, a 17-year-old senior, point guard at Pinson Valley and son of Charlette and Curtis White, was playing a pickup game with his teammates at school on Thursday when he collapsed on the gym floor.

Life-saving measures – an AED and CPR – were taken at the school until paramedics arrived and continued once Caleb arrived at St. Vincent’s East.

School officials called White immediately and she rushed to the hospital to be by her youngest son’s side.

“It was devastating because they were working on him, giving him chest compressions,’’ White said. “Then they called it and that was it. They said it was cardiac arrest.”

Caleb was pronounced dead at 2:23 p.m.

White said there was no sign that her son hadn’t been feeling well. An autopsy was scheduled for today by the Jefferson County Coroner’s Office.

“I can’t make sense of it,’’ White said.

Caleb’s older brother and best friend, Cameron White, said the death is heartbreaking.

“We’re all hurt about it,’’ he said, “be we know he’s completed God’s mission for him.”

Caleb had attended Pinson Valley High School for all four years, where he was an honor student as well and had a knack for math.

“This has definitely been a tragedy for everyone involved,’’ said Jefferson County Schools Superintendent Walter Gonsoulin, who was wearing a ribbon donning the high school’s colors.

“This young man was a very talented student and athlete.”

“He was very much loved and admired by the faculty and staff and his colleagues – the student body there at Pinson Valley,’’ Gonsoulin said.

Gonsoulin said the school district has received numerous calls of condolence from education leaders statewide.

On Friday morning, the Alabama Education Association provided breakfast for the staff and faculty at PVHS, and the Alabama Federation of Teacher provided lunch.

Ministers from around Jefferson County have also shown up at the school to offer their support.

“Today on the campus, I can tell you, the mood was as to be expected,’’ the superintendent said. “It’s very hard for them.”

“Keep the family of this young man in your hearts and prayers,’’ he said. “We will be there to support that family as well.”

Caleb began playing sports as young as age 4 and excelled as an athlete.

Though coaches from sports tried to recruit him as high school neared, there was just one sport for Caleb — basketball.

“Honestly, basketball was his love,’’ his mother said.

Family laughingly tells a story of when Caleb was in elementary school, and someone asked him what he wanted to major in when he went to college.

He replied, “Basketball,’’ and then was somewhat puzzled when he learned he would also have to take academic classes in college.

“I’m going to have to rethink this,’’ he told them.

“He learned the path to basketball was education,’’ his mother said, “and he was good with that.”

Caleb was self-driven.

“One thing he always said was, ‘Iron sharpens iron,’ so he wanted to play against the best so he could better,’’ his mother said. “He felt like there was always room for improvement and he wanted to make sure he was playing the best.”

He practiced early in the day, and late at night.

“He would go downstairs and just dribble the ball and it would be 11 p.m.,’’ White said. “I was like, Really?’’’

Caleb’s aunt, Cheryl Ramsey, said her nephew would go to the school gym at like 5 a.m. or 6 a.m. on his own to get in extra practice time on the court.

“No one had to convince him to do that,’’ Ramsey said.

“He just loved the sport,’’ Ramsey said. “Last year he got his 1,000th point and that was a big accomplishment.”

Asked why he loved the game, his mother said this: “I think the sport requires thinking and he’s a thinker,’’ White said. “The sport requires skill and agility and he had that. He loves competition, and the camaraderie.”

“Most of his circle included basketball players,’’ Ramsey said. “Not just Pinson Valley, but everywhere.”

Caleb and his brother, Cameron White, now a student at Tennessee State, were extremely close.

Cameron played basketball at Ramsay High School, and the two brothers even faced off against each other on the court one year. The game was a big to-do, and the family even had t-shirts made for the occasion, with Caleb’s picture on one side and Cameron’s picture on the other.

“He wanted to make sure he beat his brother,’’ his mother said.

Cameron transferred his senior year to Pinson Valley so he could be teammates with his brother.

“When his brother got on his team, it was the White Boyz, ‘us against whomever,’’’ his mother said.

Cameron, who posted on Facebook, “Half of me was just ripped out in an instant,” said he’ll never understand why his brother had to die.

“He was a passion leader. He was intelligent. He loved very hard,’’ Cameron said. “He was a dog on the court.”

The brothers supported each other in everything they did.

“Any type of event, we were there for each other,’’ Cameron said. “And I loved him for that.”

Caleb already had a couple of full scholarship offers and was in the process of visiting various college on official visits.

It’s hard to believe, family said, that all of that stopped so suddenly and unexpectedly.

“He was our baby,’’ his aunt said. “It’s so shocking.”

Asked what the world has lost with Caleb’s death, Ramsey said, “They lost a dynamic point guard. They lost a very caring and compassionate person. It’s an empty void and I know time will heal, but it’s a big loss not being able to see him smile anymore.”

“We want to wrap our arms around all of his friends, and we know that Caleb is in a much better place,’’ Ramsey said. “Our mom just died in April. To know that he’s with her makes it a little bit better.”