During this college football season, there has been a lot of drama and plenty of big games to keep everyone entertained. Hardcore football fans have the team they follow and cheer for, but almost everyone kept an eye on Purdue this year. Super fan Tyler Trent made a huge name for himself as he supported the Boilermakers while battling bone cancer, but on Tuesday night, his illness ended up being too much.
ESPN reported that the former Purdue student died on Tuesday from the rare form of bone cancer that had plagued his life. The very inspirational and overly positive young man was just 20-years-old when his life was ended far too soon.
Tyler Trent made a huge name for himself while, at first, doing nothing more than being a huge fan of Purdue football. Last season, he first earned recognition by camping outside of the stadium for the team’s Big Ten home opener against the Michigan Wolverines.
During that time, he even took a picture with Purdue head coach Jeff Brohm who had no idea that Trent was in chemotherapy the day before. Trent took the chemotherapy sessions to help treat osteosarcoma which had him in a wheelchair.
Anyone and everyone who saw Tyler Trent, though, didn’t look at him as the boy with cancer who was in a wheelchair. Everyone looked at him as an inspiration that wouldn’t let anything stop him from enjoying one of the biggest loves of his life — Purdue Boilermakers.
Tyler Trent, the former Purdue student who inspired countless sports fans, has died. He was 20 years old. pic.twitter.com/boiEqkMQJ5
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) January 2, 2019
Tyler Trent never made anything about himself in all of the interviews and media attention that was given to him. He wanted to raise awareness for the disease he had and Trent also wanted people to cheer on Purdue, but he would never act as if he was doing anything special.
In October, Brohm spoke of Tyler Trent and how the Purdue super fan was just so over-the-top positive about everything and everyone.
“You just see a guy dressed in Purdue garb head-to-toe with a big smile on his face. He didn’t tell me his story. He didn’t tell me what he was going through. He just had a positive attitude.”
The thing is, everyone knew of Trent’s affection and love for Purdue football and no one wanted him to miss a moment of it.
Just this past week, Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay loaned Tyler Trent and his family his plane to fly to the Music City Bowl, as reported by the IndyStar . Unfortunately, the game didn’t quite go Purdue’s way as they lost to Auburn, but Trent was just happy to be there and cheer on his Boilermakers.
At that game, Trent was even made an honorary bowl captain and went to midfield for the coin toss.
#TylerStrong ? ? ? pic.twitter.com/ayBcmX4OH1
— Purdue Football (@BoilerFootball) January 2, 2019
It was back in 2014 that Tyler Trent’s bone cancer was discovered after he broke his arm and needed surgery to replace a bone in his right arm. His cancer went into remission less than a year later, but it continued to plague him and return and by 2018, it had spread to his spine.
All Tyler Trent wanted to do was share his story and help raise awareness for cancer research which he did to the tune of more than $100,000. This season, he was able to watch his Purdue Boilermakers have a pretty good season and even blow out Ohio State in a huge upset. The entire Purdue fanbase is only a small amount of those who are upset over his death, but fans around the world are lucky to have had even this much time with him.
