Voluntarily Homeless: The Texas A&M Edition

Here’s a story about Ben Bitner, a football player for Texas A&M:

After a dispute with a roommate over bills, Bitner, a nonscholarship junior defensive back for A&M, moved out of a house in College Station following the Aggies’ appearance in the Jan. 1, 2005, Cotton Bowl.

For a year and a half, Bitner didn’t have a place to stay. He lived under creek bridges on the A&M campus, in a fort he built in the woods near the school’s golf driving range and anywhere he could stretch his hammock or lay his sleeping bag around Aggieland.

When he wasn’t finding shadowy crannies to catch some shuteye — “Out of sight, out of mind,” he said — Bitner was attending classes as a history major and excelling on the Aggies’ scout team. The 5-foot-3, 160-pounder from Round Rock has played in two games this year as a member of the kickoff squad.

He did it to save money!

“He’s paying his own way through college, and he figured it was a good way to save money. It was just … Ben.”

Now THAT’s a tough kid!

HT to Tigerboard

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Author: Phil Miller

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