He was a very smooth Big Man, and ran at around 6’10, but he was probably even better than Clemson’s Wayne “Tree” Rollins, Dale Davis, Horace Grant, and Harvey Grant, and we are talking about Elden Campbell…A true talent for the Clemson Tigers’ men’s basketball team…Excellent low blocks shooter, outstanding rebounder, and a very good passer too…One of the best all-time in the Atlantic Coast Conference, and he was not a brute power player, he was just smooth…Campbell led the Clemson Tigers to the ACC Regular Season Basketball Championship…It is the only one in school history for the Tigers…
He got the job done, and when he was finished his teams had won, and they had much fun along the way….He always looked lean, but he was a basketball playing machine…
Gone, but not forgotten….Gone at just 57 years old…..
RIP:Elden Campbell
from the Clemson Athletics website:
CLEMSON, S.C. — Elden Campbell, Clemson’s all-time leading scorer and three-time All-ACC player, died on Tuesday, December 2. He was 57 years old.
Campbell came to Clemson as a freshman in 1986-87 and helped the Tigers to a 25-6 record and the NCAA tournament as Horace Grant’s backup center. As a sophomore he stepped into the starting lineup and averaged a career best 18.8 points per game and was a Third Team All-ACC selection. As a junior in 1988-89 he was a Second Team All-ACC choice and averaged a team-best 17.5 points per game for Clemson’s NCAA Tournament team.
As a senior in 1989-90, he teamed with Dale Davis to give Clemson one of the top frontcourt combinations in college basketball. Both were named honorable mention All-American by the Associated Press, the only time Clemson has had two All-Americans on the same team.
Campbell led the 1989-90 Tigers in scoring with a 16.4 average. Clemson won the ACC regular season championship for the only time in school history, finished with a 26-9 record and advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.
Campbell finished his Clemson career with 1,880 points, a record that still stands 35 years after he played his last game. He is still first in career made field goals (754), tied for first in career double figure scoring games (97), second in blocked shots (334), third in 20-point scoring games (34), seventh in made free throws (369) and eighth in career rebounds (836).
“I am deeply saddened to learn of Elden Campbell’s passing,” said Cliff Ellis, Campbell’s head coach at Clemson. “Elden was a great player for four years, especially in 1989-90 when he was a major reason we won Clemson’s only ACC regular season championship. He went on to a 15-year career in the NBA and won a World Championship.”
“But most of all, Elden was an outstanding, giving person. This is a sad day for the Clemson family. Elden loved Clemson, he came back and supported the program after he retired. He exemplified what Clemson was all about.”
Campbell was the first-round draft choice, the 27th overall selection, of the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1990 NBA draft. He played for the Lakers for nine years and is still third in Lakers history in blocked shots, trailing only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Shaquille O’Neal. He played in the NBA FInals for the Lakers against the Bulls his rookie year.
Campbell went on to play 15 total seasons in the NBA. He played four years with the Charlotte Hornets, then played for the Detroit Pistons for two seasons, including the Pistons World Championship team of 2003-04. Campbell retired at the end of the 2004-05 season. He finished with 10,805 points and 6,116 rebounds and 1,602 blocked shots.
MORE from the New York Post:
Former Lakers center Elden Campbell died after he collapsed following a fishing trip in Florida, his sister, Sandra, told The Post.
Campbell had been out on the water and suffered some kind of medical emergency after making it back to land Monday, according to Sandra.
“It was all the sudden,” she said. “He wasn’t sick. He was out fishing.”
She added she and the family “don’t want to speculate” on what exactly caused the issue.
“We don’t know what happened,” she said.
According to the family, Campbell’s death came as a shock: “He wasn’t sick. He was out fishing.”
Sandra said Elden’s body is currently with the medical examiner, and they hope to have more details surrounding his passing in the next few days.
“He was such a big pillar and a staple to our family,” she said. “He’s going to be terribly missed.”
Campbell starred at Clemson University before he was picked by the Lakers in the first round of the 1990 NBA Draft. He went on to play eight-and-a-half seasons for Los Angeles.
Elden Campbell was picked by the Lakers in the 1990 NBA Draft.
He finished his 15-year NBA career averaging 10.3 points and 5.9 rebounds per game.
Campbell — nicknamed “Easy E” for his effortless style of play — won one NBA championship in 2004 as a member of the Detroit Pistons.
“I loved throwing lobs to Elden because he could jump out the gym and had so much talent!” Campbell’s former teammate, Magic Johnson, wrote on X on Wednesday. “Cookie and I are praying for his family and Lakers Nation as they mourn during this difficult time. Rest in peace Big E!”