Homelessness, Heartache and Hoops: Caleb Swanigan's Rough Road to Purdue

He was 14 when he told his brother, Carl, that he wanted to become a basketball player. The dream seemed pretty far-fetched for a 6'2", 360-pound eighth-grader who spent his nights in a Utah homeless shelter where people shot heroin in the restroom, often leaving needles on the floor or near the sink. Obviously, Caleb Swanigan—"Biggie," he'd long been called—would need some help. He couldn't ask his father, a crack cocaine addict who often went months without seeing his six children. And it ...