Ben Conken, a football player who signed to play collegiately with West Florida before a cancer battle, died Monday, according to his obituary.
He was 20 years old.
Conken was part of West Florida’s 2024 recruiting class, signing with the Argonauts as a 6-foot-3, 205-pound linebacker out of Cottage Hill Christian Academy in Mobile, Ala.
He never appeared in a game for the university.
“Shortly after joining our program, he began a hard fought battle with cancer but continued to show his support for UWF,” West Florida Athletics said in a statement, according to Fox 10.
“He will forever remain a member of this team and an Argo for life.”
Cottage Hill head coach Carvel Jones described Conken as a “dawg on the football field,” according to Fox 10, and added that he’ll never forget Conken’s smile — even while battling cancer.
Conken played basketball and baseball in addition to football at Cottage Hill, according to his Mobile Memorial Gardens Funeral Home obituary.
During his senior season, he recorded 10 sacks and 85 tackles while forcing five fumbles.
Cottage Hill said in a statement that “our hearts are broken by his passing,” according to US Magazine.
“Football was his favorite,” Conken’s obituary read, “and he dreamed of one day playing Division I. He earned the opportunity to live that dream as a scholarship defensive outside linebacker for the University of West Florida Argonauts. Ben was intensely competitive, but never at the expense of sportsmanship, fairness, and character.
“He lived by a mantra of ‘get up and do something.’ He was not content with a life of passive observation. Even when countless healthcare workers, support staff, and volunteers devoted themselves to his care, Ben was actively learning so that he could return that care tenfold to others. His heroes were those who saw a need, had the ability to meet it, and quietly answered the call without praise, recognition, or reward. He would absolutely hate to have to read all this about himself.”
