[10/31/04]A Vicksburg athlete and student at Princeton University, described by longtime friends as a leader and a gifted student, died Friday night while swimming in the Atlantic Ocean off Florida.

Alan Ebersole, a 20-year-old swimmer on the Princeton team, drowned off a rocky stretch of beach near the team’s hotel about 15 miles north of Fort Lauderdale.

Mr. Ebersole was a lifelong resident of Vicksburg, a state-championship swimmer and salutitorian of the 2003 graduating class of St. Aloysius High School.

“He was always a leader,” said Alex Frisbee, a classmate for 12 years at Vicksburg Catholic School. “He never did follow, and he set the standard for everybody else.”

A press release for the Broward County, Fla., Sheriff’s Office said Mr. Ebersole and two of his teammates went for a swim in the ocean off Hillsboro Beach at about 10:30 Friday night.

“When the two other swimmers returned to the beach, they noticed that Ebersole was not with them, but assumed that he had come ashore and returned to his room. A short time later, they noticed some of Ebersole’s clothing on the beach and became concerned, summoning a coach and other swimmers to begin a search.”

Just after midnight, the sheriff’s department was called, and the search team included a helicopter that flew along the coastline. The body was found at 1:08 a.m. about three-quarters of a mile from where Mr. Ebersole had entered the water, the release said.

An autopsy Saturday showed the cause of death to be a drowning, an investigator for the Broward Medical Examiner’s Office said.

The area where they swam was described as shallow and with some rocks large enough to stand on for diving.

Mr. Ebersole was a sophomore at Princeton, where students were on a fall break. He and about 90 swimmers and divers were in the Fort Lauderdale suburb of Deerfield Beach for training.

“Alan was an outstanding student and an outstanding young man,” St. Aloysius principal Peter Pikul said. “He was a gifted student and a gifted athlete. He was well-thought-of by the faculty, his peers and everybody. He was the kind of young man any parent would be proud of.”

Princeton’s president, vice president for campus life, provost and athletic director also issued statements expressing their condolences to Ebersole’s family.

“This tragedy is heartbreaking for all of us in the university community and especially so for those who knew Alan personally,” provost Christopher L. Eisgruber told the university community. “I am sure that all of you join me in expressing sincere sympathies to his family and friends.”

Among Mr. Ebersole’s honors were being selected for the Mississippi American Legion Boys State and as one of about 400 winners nationwide of the prestigious Robert C. Byrd Honors Scholarship.

He worked last summer in the campaign of Republican congressional candidate Clinton B. LeSueur, who called him the “most intelligent and well-mannered young man” he had ever worked with.

Steve Guyton was an adviser of Mr. Ebersole’s at Boys State and a staffer for two members of the state’s congressional delegation.

On Saturday, he drove to Vicksburg to be with Mr. Ebersole’s family.

“He was really a well-rounded human being,” Guyton said. “He loved coming back here and meeting people, going to the Neshoba County Fair and meeting people. He appreciated the mighty and he also appreciated the average Mississippian. He encouraged people.”

Guyton said Mr. Ebersole was planning to apply for an internship in Congress or the White House this summer and, later in his college career, for a Rhodes, Marshall or Truman scholarship. He was studying Spanish and politics, among other academic pursuits.

He also was leaning toward returning to Mississippi, attending law school at Ole Miss and entering either politics in Mississippi or foreign service with the U.S. Department of State, Guyton added.

Frisbee, a student at Mississippi College, said the two had talked just days ago.

“He was really excited about this year,” Frisbee said, adding that Mr. Ebersole had told him he had made the traveling swim team and was doing well in all his classes.

Both Frisbee and Guyton spoke of Mr. Ebersole’s strong Catholic faith.

“He has left a great example through church,” Frisbee said. “He’s been involved in everything: church, school, everything.”

Ebersole was universally liked by those who knew him, his friends said.

“As a student, he was always the first guy to come up to speak to you and say hello,” said Walker Hengst, another of Ebersole’s St. Aloysius High School classmates who also participated in Boys State.

“Students from the swim teams, who have been receiving grief counseling in Florida, gathered on the beach Saturday morning to place flowers in the water and pay their respects to Ebersole,” a university release said. The teams were scheduled to return to Princeton today.

Ebersole lived in the university’s Butler College, and an informal gathering in his honor was scheduled there Saturday night. A vigil for students and other community members was to be at 9:30 p.m. today in the Chancellor Green rotunda on the Princeton campus.

Mr. Ebersole is survived by his parents, Story and Bruce Ebersole; two younger brothers, Bern and Jase Ebersole; his maternal grandparents, Jack and Laurin Stamm, all of Vicksburg; his paternal grandparents, Bernard Ebersole and Pat Ebersole, both of Lancaster, Pa.; his great-grandmother, Dorothy Stamm of Tallulah; and aunts, uncles and cousins.

Riles Funeral Home of Vicksburg has charge of arrangements.