Died of a drug overdose about 7 years ago.

He was also on my soccer team and was the coach's son. I felt really bad because the coach was a really nice, down to earth guy (really patient with me even though I was probably the worst player on the team), and their entire family was really decent and normal as well.

However, this kid had bipolar disorder or something from an early age, to the point where he had to ride the short bus to and from school because his mood swings were so disruptive to other students (I had no idea about this at the time and just thought he was a normal kid who happened to be extremely mean). He was very aggressive and mean-spirited, and kids like me were the easy targets I guess. This constant cloud of persistent negativity hung over all soccer-related activities for me, and the soccer program I was in was set up in a way that the same teams would carry over through each season, so I was stuck with this kid for years. (It's probably partly why I dislike sports and athletic activities to this day.)

No idea how he got into drugs, but perhaps drugs and mental illness were a lethal combination for him, because he would have only been in his early 20s at the time of his death.

Really sad to think that such a nice, normal family could turn out such a troubled child. I'm sure his parents felt completely helpless from the very beginning.