A Staten Island high school is mourning the shock loss of its basketball captain, after Marcus Nuamah died at the age of just 19 last week.
Tributes and donations have poured in since the news was made public, with his coach describing him as a ‘one-of-a-kind’ student athlete.
No details have yet been made public on the cause of death, but friends commented that he ‘passed away in his sleep’ on Wednesday.
Nuamah was the captain of the CSI/McCown varsity men’s basketball team, and had played with the school for three seasons.
His head basketball coach Danny Lee told SI Live: ‘He had an infectious smile, he had a smile that could light up the room.
‘I was talking with my assistant coaches and they were saying like, “you know, there’s only one Marcus”. ‘Marcus is Marcus. He was a leader, he was a competitor, but mainly he cared about everybody. He cared about the program and the community.’
Marcus Nuamah is shown on the basketball court in a photo from his GoFundMe page
A GoFundMe page set up in his honor has already raised over $40,000, more than $10k over its intended target.
Close to 700 donations have poured in to the site, with countless messages of love and support for Nuamah’s family.
His funeral is due to be held on Friday in Staten Island, New York.