Maybe he’s a member on AY?
He was Named a coach of the week this past season in 5A ball
www.chron.com
SAN DIEGO — It wasn't the cold nights in College Station or the nomadic lifestyle that made Ben Bitner question his chosen living arrangements. Instead, it was one rainy night that got to Bitner.
A spat with roommates had led the Texas A&M walk-on defensive back to decide to live on the streets — hammock, sleeping bag and hiking backpack in tow — for more than 18 months beginning in January 2005.
Bitner's strategy was fairly well thought out, down to a game plan for the infamous spring downpours.
He built a fort out of pallets in a wooded area behind the George Bush Presidential Libraryfor shelter on rainy nights. But on one particular spring night, he found himself in a torrential downpour.
"It was raining real hard that night, so I walked all the way out there and set up my stuff," Bitner said. "Everything was working great. Water wasn't getting on me. It was great.
"Then the downpour came, a deluge, and everything just collapsed on me. I was under four or five pallets, and I was soaking wet. It really backfired on me."
But Bitner was far from deterred. He'd chosen this dual lifestyle: student-athlete by day and a free-spirit wanderer by night.
And he had made it work.
"I would walk around at night, and wherever I was on campus when I got tired, I would seek out a dark spot and hang up my hammock," Bitner said. "If I didn't want to deal with that, then I would just lay down my sleeping bag, throwing my backpack at the top of it and use it as a pillow."
Most mornings, Bitner showered at the Bright Complex after early workouts with teammates. Then he would begin his day as a college student. He'd go to class, practice and then the library before seeking out a place to crash for the night.
It wasn't ideal, he admits. But, hey, he was saving $3,000, and he wasn't living off anyone. Initially, he thought he would only be outdoors for a couple of days until he got his plan together.
Days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months, and before long Bitner had been living outdoors more than a year.
It wasn't bad at all," said Bitner, a junior from Round Rock. "I slept good. I'm not going to say I liked it.
"But to me, the only thing I didn't get that I had in a house is to watch TV any time I wanted. Other than that, I could go anywhere, do anything and wouldn't have to worry about cleaning up and I didn't have to worry about bills."
Eventually, his teammates and coaches found out. The first clue was the hammock that was often set up at the practice fields near the Bright Complex.
Several teammates offered Bitner shelter. His pride and need to pay his own way forced him to decline.
He was really homeless, and no one knew it," senior safety Melvin Bullitt said. "It was like two or three months before someone noticed and was like, 'Hey, was you asleep outside?' "
His parents, Bobby and Colleen Bitner, had their concerns, as well. But because Bitner is paying his own way through school and he's an adult, they couldn't do much but suggest that he go live with his brother, also an A&M student.
Indeed, it only takes a glance to figure out Bitner comes at life from a different angle. But nothing is quite as it seems.
He's 5-3 and 150 pounds, yet his tenacity and grit have earned him respect as a scout team player.
Bitner has long hair that usually hangs from under his helmet in a ponytail. But his hairstyle is far from a fad.
He plans to donate his hair, which he estimates to be 20 inches long, to Locks for Love shortly after the Aggies return from their Holiday Bowl against Cal on Thursday.
The two had collided on two previous occasions that afternoon with Bitner winning the first battle. Lane came back determined the second time after receiving a good chewing out from special-teams coordinator Mark Tommerdahl.
The third collision drew wows from their teammates.
"After a while, if someone just keeps coming back for more he's going to win," Bullitt said. "Next thing you know Jorvorskie is on the ground, Ben's shoulder is hurting. All for nothing."
Bitner finds humor in the encounter a year later.
He was Named a coach of the week this past season in 5A ball
Aggie goes from homelessness to Holiday Bowl
It wasn't the cold nights in College Station or the nomadic lifestyle that made Ben Bitner...
Aggie goes from homelessness to Holiday Bowl
Aggie's home is where the hammock isAt just 5-3, Ben Bitner has made a name for himself as a defensive back on the Texas A&M scout team, but that's just the beginning of his unusual story
SAN DIEGO — It wasn't the cold nights in College Station or the nomadic lifestyle that made Ben Bitner question his chosen living arrangements. Instead, it was one rainy night that got to Bitner.
A spat with roommates had led the Texas A&M walk-on defensive back to decide to live on the streets — hammock, sleeping bag and hiking backpack in tow — for more than 18 months beginning in January 2005.
Bitner's strategy was fairly well thought out, down to a game plan for the infamous spring downpours.
He built a fort out of pallets in a wooded area behind the George Bush Presidential Libraryfor shelter on rainy nights. But on one particular spring night, he found himself in a torrential downpour.
"It was raining real hard that night, so I walked all the way out there and set up my stuff," Bitner said. "Everything was working great. Water wasn't getting on me. It was great.
"Then the downpour came, a deluge, and everything just collapsed on me. I was under four or five pallets, and I was soaking wet. It really backfired on me."
But Bitner was far from deterred. He'd chosen this dual lifestyle: student-athlete by day and a free-spirit wanderer by night.
And he had made it work.
"I would walk around at night, and wherever I was on campus when I got tired, I would seek out a dark spot and hang up my hammock," Bitner said. "If I didn't want to deal with that, then I would just lay down my sleeping bag, throwing my backpack at the top of it and use it as a pillow."
Most mornings, Bitner showered at the Bright Complex after early workouts with teammates. Then he would begin his day as a college student. He'd go to class, practice and then the library before seeking out a place to crash for the night.
It wasn't ideal, he admits. But, hey, he was saving $3,000, and he wasn't living off anyone. Initially, he thought he would only be outdoors for a couple of days until he got his plan together.
Days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months, and before long Bitner had been living outdoors more than a year.
It wasn't bad at all," said Bitner, a junior from Round Rock. "I slept good. I'm not going to say I liked it.
"But to me, the only thing I didn't get that I had in a house is to watch TV any time I wanted. Other than that, I could go anywhere, do anything and wouldn't have to worry about cleaning up and I didn't have to worry about bills."
Eventually, his teammates and coaches found out. The first clue was the hammock that was often set up at the practice fields near the Bright Complex.
Several teammates offered Bitner shelter. His pride and need to pay his own way forced him to decline.
He was really homeless, and no one knew it," senior safety Melvin Bullitt said. "It was like two or three months before someone noticed and was like, 'Hey, was you asleep outside?' "
His parents, Bobby and Colleen Bitner, had their concerns, as well. But because Bitner is paying his own way through school and he's an adult, they couldn't do much but suggest that he go live with his brother, also an A&M student.
'A weird guy'
"They would call, and if I didn't call for a while they would have my brother get a hold of me to make sure nothing was wrong," Bitner, 22, said. "Other than that, they figured I'm a weird guy anyway, so it would fit with my personality."Indeed, it only takes a glance to figure out Bitner comes at life from a different angle. But nothing is quite as it seems.
He's 5-3 and 150 pounds, yet his tenacity and grit have earned him respect as a scout team player.
Bitner has long hair that usually hangs from under his helmet in a ponytail. But his hairstyle is far from a fad.
He plans to donate his hair, which he estimates to be 20 inches long, to Locks for Love shortly after the Aggies return from their Holiday Bowl against Cal on Thursday.
The big hit
And then come the stories about Bitner on the practice field, including the one from last season when he knocked 280-pound running back Jorvorskie Lane unconscious during kickoff drills.The two had collided on two previous occasions that afternoon with Bitner winning the first battle. Lane came back determined the second time after receiving a good chewing out from special-teams coordinator Mark Tommerdahl.
The third collision drew wows from their teammates.
"After a while, if someone just keeps coming back for more he's going to win," Bullitt said. "Next thing you know Jorvorskie is on the ground, Ben's shoulder is hurting. All for nothing."
Bitner finds humor in the encounter a year later.
