3 days ago
Purdue basketball and South Bend Clay legend Jaraan Cornell dies at 48
SOUTH BEND ― Jaraan Cornell, who authored one of the greatest shots in IHSAA state basketball history for Clay High School, died unexpectedly Friday, June 6, at the age of 48.
The details surrounding his death are unknown, but multiple sources confirmed to the South Bend Tribune that his body was found in his apartment Friday morning.
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Cornell was a star for the South Bend Clay boys basketball team in the 1990s. He hit one of the defining shots in state history during the 1994 state championship game, draining a '3' as time expired in regulation to force overtime. Clay went onto beat Valparaiso, 93-88, in overtime in one of the final title games on the one-class era.
Cornell was a sophomore on the 1994 team. He would be named an Indiana All-Star and finished third in the Mr. Basketball award voting in 1996. He then had a decorated playing career at Purdue University, including back-to-back third team all-Big Ten selections in 1998 and 1999. He was named to the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame Silver Anniversary team in 2021.
