“Our players, coaches and everyone involved with our team are hurting because he was family,” said Kent State head football coach Paul Haynes in a statement. “As a team, we will come together and get through this one day at a time.”
Bitsko had emerged as a senior leader at Kent State. A starter at center in all 12 games last season, he was honored for his “hard work and dedication beyond the call of duty” following the spring game. Listed at 6-foot-3 and 297 pounds, he also was a third team All-Mid American Conference preseason pick.
At Wayne, Bitsko was a starting right tackle as a senior on the 2010 team that rallied from a midseason 2-3 slump to advance to the Division I state final. The quarterback of that Warriors team was senior Braxton Miller, who this week reinjured a shoulder during Ohio State’s preseason camp and will sit out the season.
Bitsko’s father is Randy Bitsko (wife Pam), a former Wayne assistant coach and current Warriors game-day statistician. He was a standout lineman at Carroll and is in the Patriots’ athletic hall of fame. An older brother, Ryan Bitsko, was Wayne’s returning starting QB until Miller arrived as a freshman and took over.
“He had always been very healthy,” said Sue Bitsko, Jason’s grandmother. “The Kent State coaches had told my son (Randy) that Jason had had a phenomenal practice (on Tuesday). There had been a dinner with the players and coaches and Jason was just feeling great.”
By midafternoon Bitsko’s Facebook page had been inundated by condolences from family, friends and current and former teammates. He also had a sizeable Twitter following and often posted tweets about Kent State football.
Wayne head coach Jay Minton remembered a hard-working, dedicated and jovial athlete who represented the best in youth.
“If you wanted to take a template on a coach or anybody that’s trying to build young people into better people and you’re making a template in coaching and how you want your player to be, then you take everything that Jason Bitsko did and you put it in there and you’d have the perfect template,” said Minton.
An autopsy and toxicology tests will be conducted. Funeral arrangements are pending.
Bitsko was pursuing an undergraduate degree in marketing.
“His faith in God was remarkable,” Sue Bitsko said. “For some of us, we are wondering why the good Lord took someone who made such a positive impact in this world. It’s not for us to know. My son (Randy) said, ‘Mom, your life can change in a heartbeat.’ And ours has.”
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