Professional beach volleyball player Eric Zaun dies at age 25 after jumping from Atlantic City hotel
A young man who died after jumping from the window of his 29th floor Atlantic City hotel room on Thursday has been identified as 25-year-old professional beach volleyball player Eric Zaun.
According to PEOPLE, officers from the Atlantic City Police Department responded around 5:30 pm local time to reports that a man had been found dead in the parking lot of the Borgata Hotel, Casino and Spa, Sergeant Kevin Fair shared.
The detectives who were investigating the case found that Zaun had jumped out of his hotel window on the 29th floor, News 12 New Jersey reported.
At that point, the authorities were unable to identify the man but noted that he was a 25-year-old from Cherry Hill, New Jersey.
Many volleyball organizations simultaneously announced the passing of Zaun. Zaun had made his debut for the AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour in 2017 who paid a tribute to the late volleyball player on Instagram.
The post read, "The AVP is deeply saddened by the sudden passing of Eric Zaun. Our prayers and thoughts are with his family and friends at this time. He will be deeply missed."
“This is a huge loss for the entire volleyball community,” USA Volleyball CEO Jamie Davis said in a statement. “Eric was a talented young beach player and stepped up this spring to play snow volleyball for the U.S. He will be missed.”
Zaun had won AVP's rookie of the year prize in 2017 after he graduated from the Limestone College in South Carolina where he played as an outside hitter on the men's indoor team, as per his AVP profile.
Zaun lived in Florida for a brief period post-college before moving to Southern California to pursue his dreams of playing professionally. In 2017, he shared with Volleyballmag.com, "I love the culture and the lifestyle associated with beach volleyball. It’s great to be able to travel around the country to different beaches and locations doing what you love."
A week before his death, Zaun had shared an Instagram post of him playing volleyball along with fellow athlete Avery Drost. He had captioned the post, "June is gonna be a good month." A forum for volleyball players, the Sand Wannabes, also shared a tribute to Zaun on Facebook and recalled a time when he had dropped by Aussie’s Grill & Beach Bar in Austin.
The post read, "A few Sand Wannabes to many got to know Eric on different levels at different times from his NVL days to current AVP days, and those interactions from watching him play with so much intensity to casual convos were always memorable. It’s a sad day."