Torrence Sumerlin, who starred on the baseball diamond for Allen Community College in 2016, was shot and killed Friday morning in an east Chicago neighborhood.
Sumerlin, 26, was the victim of an apparent robbery.
Family members told Chicago’s WGN News that Sumerlin was an avid shoe collector and was in the midst of making a sale when he was shot in the chest while retrieving an item from the trunk of his car.
Sumerlin was taken to an area hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Police have yet to arrest a suspect.
The Chicago native earned first team Region VI honors in his only season at Allen during the 2015-16 school year, where he batted .364 with 74 RBIs and 55 runs in 56 games. His 22 home runs ranked sixth in NJCAA that season.
An exemplary student, Sumerlin also was named an NJCAA Academic All-American.
After Allen, Sumerlin played at the University of South Alabama and later at Southeastern University in Lakeland, Fla., where he helped lead the latter to its first ever national championship in 2018.
News of his former player’s death left Allen baseball coach Clint Stoy stunned.
“He’s one of the guys, no matter how bad or how good your day was going, always had a smile on his face,” Stoy told the Register. “He was someone everyone gravitated to. You wish you could have 100 of him on your team.”
Stoy had stayed in touch with Sumerlin through the years, usually visiting with him every couple of weeks or so.
Sumerlin was in the midst of starting his own business, Stoy said.
“The worst part about it, he was such a good guy. Such a good person,” Stoy said. “That’s what makes it tough. To come from the area he came from, and avoid the gang-banging.
“I’m close with a lot of my former players,” he continued. “But I was very close with him.”
SUMERLIN’S former teammates have established a GoFundMe page to help Sumerlin’s family with funeral expenses, and to establish a scholarship in Sumerlin’s name.
Stoy said the plan is to give a $1,000 scholarship annually to a young baseball player from the Chicago area. Details are available here.
