Former Wheaton College football player Jalen Shaffer was pronounced dead after drowning in Lake Michigan. He was 26.
The Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office responded to an emergency call on Saturday, June 13, after two individuals were reported struggling in the water on Pigeon Lake, just outside Grand Haven, Michigan.
First responders pulled both men out of the water and performed life-saving measures, but neither survived. The other victim was identified as a 24-year-old man from Illinois, but his name was not released.
Jalen’s father, Joel, shared that his son was “attempting to save his football brother, with whom he played for 4 years at Wheaton.”
“Thank you so much for the prayers from everyone who has been part of his life and our lives all these years,” Joel wrote via Facebook on Sunday, June 14.
At the time of his death, Jalen was working at Bridge Street Ministries, according to his father, “mentoring and discipling urban middle school students, and made an eternal impact on the lives of his students and everyone he became friends with.”
“He was truly one of the most godly men I’ve known in my life,” Joel shared. “I saw him daily modeling the fruits of the Spirit and was so proud of him, especially when I saw him pour his life into the next generation of disadvantaged yet high-potential youth in our city. Pray for us, but also pray for his students at Bridge St. Ministries. They loved him deeply.”
Jalen’s former coaches and mentors at Grand Rapids’ NorthPointe Christian High School also remembered the late athlete after news of his death.
“As a coach, if you needed a job done and you had to count on somebody, Jalen was going to be your guy,” former NorthPointe football coach Tim Swore told WOOD TV. “If anybody were asked about Jalen Shaffer, I think the No. 1 thing people would say is he’s absolutely unselfish, humble and extremely talented.”
NorthPointe principal Tom Molenkamp added, “Just always set a good example for his classmates, his teammates, kids who were following behind him.”
A GoFundMe has been organized to help Jalen’s parents “cover the costs of the funeral and the many other related expenses.”
“The last thing the Shaffers should be worried about is finances during this time,” the page reads. “We ask that you cover them first in prayer, and if you are able to, give financially to help alleviate these costs.”
The GoFundMe had raised more than $27,000 at the time of publication.
