Akron Zips NCAA national champion Shawn Barber, an Olympic pole vaulter, dies at 29

The University of Akron Department of Athletics announced Thursday the death of former Zips standout Shawn Barber.

Barber, a World Champion, Olympian and three-time NCAA champion during his time at Akron, died at his home in Kingwood, Texas, from medical complications on Wednesday.

Barber was 29 years old.

UA said Barber had fallen ill and had been experiencing poor health for some time.

“More than just an incredible athlete, Shawn was such a good-hearted person that always put others ahead of himself,” his agent Paul Doyle told the Associated Press on Thursday.

“It’s tragic to lose such a good person at such a young age.”

The AP reported a cause of death was not yet known.

Former Akron men's and women's track and field and cross country coach Dennis Mitchell described Barber to the Akron Beacon Journal on Thursday as "extremely smart" and "the nicest guy ever."

"Extremely polite, nice, extremely well spoken," Mitchell said of Barber. "If a media member was talking to him, he was unbelievable with that. He was a guy that had zero enemies. Everybody liked him. He was everybody's buddy all around the world. You would travel with him around the world and he would have friends everywhere. Everybody wanted to hang out with Shawn.

"I can't remember any sort of bad thing he said about anyone. He was the most polite and nice guy you could ever be around. ... His competitors definitely enjoyed being around him, too."

Barber, a dual citizen of the United States and Canada, won three NCAA Division I pole vault championships as a member of the Akron track and field program from 2013-2015.

"Shawn was a great person," Mitchell said. "Athletically, that guy was amazing. His ability, his spatial awareness, he had a great mind for the event. It was always a pleasure coaching him because he understood so much about what he was doing. When you are dealing with a world champion, you are dealing with someone that is extraordinary. He definitely was all of that."

Barber became the first male individual national champion in Zips history when he won the 2014 NCAA Division I indoor championship in Albuquerque, New Mexico. To win it, he vaulted a Canadian-record 18 feet, 10¼ inches to defeat 2013 NCAA Division I outdoor champion and future Olympian Sam Kendricks of Mississippi.

Barber then won both the NCAA Division I indoor and outdoor titles in 2015, clearing 19-4¾ in Fayetteville, Arkansas and 18-4½ in Eugene, Oregon, respectively, en route to becoming a finalist for both the Bowerman and Sullivan awards.

His winning clearance on his final attempt at the 2015 NCAA indoor championships broke not only his own collegiate record, but also set a then-NCAA championship meet standard that bested Jacob Davis' record of 19-2¼ set in 1999.

Barber was the 2014 NCAA Division I outdoor runner-up to Kendricks in 2014, a six-time U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association All-American and a six-time Mid-American Conference champion.

Barber won the 2015 IAAF World Championship in Beijing, China, with a clearance of 19-4¼, topping defending world champion Raphael Holzdeppe of Germany, France Olympic champion and world record holder Renaud Lavillenie and Poland stars Piotr Lisek and Pawel Wojciechowsk.

Barber earned the gold medal at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, Canada with a winning vault of 19-¼.

Barber represented Canada in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and finished 10th at 18-½.

Barber's best vault was 19-8¼ on Jan. 15, 2016, in Reno, Nevada. The mark, which is also 6.0 meters, remains the Canadian record.

Mitchell said Barber's final appearance in a meet came in January 2020 in Cottbus, Germany.

Barber is survived by his mother, Ann; father, George; and brother, David.

"I know his father very well," Mitchell said. "His father and I competed against each other when we were in college. He was at Texas El Paso and I was at the University of Utah and then Abilene Christian University. ... His father competed at the World Championships in 1983."

Mitchell said he met Shawn Barber during his senior year at Kingwood Park High School.

"I went down and visited Shawn and his family in Texas," Mitchell said. "We did all of the regular things you do. We brought him in for a recruiting visit and it worked out great. Shawn decided to leave the warmth of Texas and come out to Akron, Ohio. He was an extremely accomplished vaulter back then.

"He ended up holding the high school national record. He competed at the World Junior Track and Field Championships [in Barcelona, Spain, in July 2012]. Took third there [with a jump of 18-2½], and then moved up and bumped the national high school record. He went 18-3½ [at the AAU Junior Olympics in Houston, Texas, in August 2012]. The guy was a superstar."

Mitchell, a coach at Akron from 1995-2022, said he enjoyed traveling during summers to watch Barber compete internationally after his college days were complete.

"I watched Shawn compete all over the world," Mitchell said. "I was at the Worlds and the Olympics. He was on the Diamond League circuit, so I went wherever he went, whether it was Monaco or Morocco or Paris or Sweden or Switzerland, wherever. Sometimes we had a little training base out there in Germany we'd like to hang out at for a couple of weeks. ... I watched him in meets as far away as Australia and China."

Michael Beaven can be reached at mbeaven@thebeaconjournal and is on Twitter at @MBeavenABJ.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Olympic pole vaulter Shawn Barber, a former Akron Zips star, dies