In fall of 2005, I was off campus as an intern at GE healthcare up near Waukesha and the ugliness that Camp Kenosha became. When
@CoralSpringsCat discovered Kenosha, it was PERFECT for football. A massive campus that was dead at the end of summer where Barnett could rally the team, coach them without distraction, and build a positive culture of optimism. This is what I was sold as a preferred walk on when Northwestern recruited me in 2002. I turned down scholarships at smaller schools after my one season of varsity football. I was sold on the whole “3 Big Ten Championships in 8 years” too. I loved Big Ike, Coach Walk, Coach Patton, Coach Brown from Kent Roosevelt (I helped turn nearby Hudson from a loser into a winner by playing and then coaching for free during the summer of 2005. I talked Bill Nagy’s dad out of sending him to Wisconsin because of what happened to me in 2002).
When I was at GEHC, my friend Caleb killed himself. I got an email from my buddy Jon on the rugby team listserv and was saddened and confused.
When I got back to campus, I wanted to find out what happened to my friend. Caleb and I had befriended at 600 Lincoln my freshman year. I quit the football team but was cool with all the student athletes on campus except for the guys who bullied and abused me as a 19YO. There were constant fights and drunken nights amongst the student athletes, and a few brawls. The cops were there a couple of times even.
I found out that Caleb killed himself because he was gay. I was shocked. I did not know that Caleb was gay, and I did not care.
I had a bunch of gay or bisexual teammates at Hudson and at Northwestern. Now it is commonplace, but back then they were bullied the most and quit or transferred at a faster rate. Even if we needed them and their talent.
I now suspect that Caleb was assaulted or shamed. I think someone threatened to tell his parents back in Hong Kong that he was gay. His family was very anti-gay, and Caleb should have been safe in Evanston.
He wasn’t. I heard it was a grisly and bloody mess in his dorm room. 😔
I miss Caleb. He was smart, kind, and the kind of guy you wanted to be friends with at Northwestern. He played rugby for years despite being too damn skinny and had a funny nickname.
I spoke out for Caleb and all the kids in the nupredators thread and many other survivors of the toxic Northwestern atmosphere.
I want a full investigation by Loretta Lynch into all campus suicides for the past 20 years in honor of Caleb and other LGBTQ+ who were assaulted and shamed.
40% of LBTGQ+ people consider suicide at some point in their lives. This is inhumane. It must stop.
#GreenLivesMatter
#AllPeopleMatter
#RIPCalebNU2005
#PurpleAngel2Soon
#SellTSLA
#BuyTLSA
Go Cats.
www.nbcsports.com
