Jennie Hartig makes the trip to Ball State University from her home in Chicago each and every Homecoming. In fact, she hasn't missed one in 12 years.
Hartig normally makes the trip with fellow 1998 graduate Jason Kent, her boyfriend of 12 years.
The couple met their freshman year, 1993, through a mutual friend who played with Kent on the school's football team. For the remaining years of their collegiate career and the eight years following, Kent made it a point to be back in Muncie to support his team.
"There's never a question as to what we did Homecoming Weekend," Hartig said. "It's something we've always done."
Today would mark the couple's 13th Homecoming together, and although Hartig will attend this afternoon's game, her boyfriend will be absent from the stands.
Kent died in April of a sudden heart attack in the city where he grew up. He was 30 years old.
"The game will probably be the most difficult part of the weekend," Hartig said. "That's what we would be doing, regardless of if he were here."
ON THE FIELD
Kent was committed to football, his friends said, especially at Ball State. To the day he died, Hartig said, the red and white of Ball State souvenirs lined the walls of his house.
Kent was a fullback for Ball State's football team during two of its most memorable seasons, 1993 and 1998, when the Cardinals were Mid-American Conference champions.
He was well respected as a friend and motivator, his friends and family said. Even after graduation, he'd make his way back into the locker room to pump up his former teammates, Hartig said.
"It's football," she said. "It's a sense of team for Jason. He would not have missed it for anything."
His mother, Dorothy Kent, said the pep talks were so powerful because people actually listened to him.
"He just had a charm about him," she said. "For little kids, younger kids, older kids and adults - everyone would stop and listen to him."
As the years went on and the program's staff and players changed, Kent found himself in a different environment, Hartig said.
"Not as many of the people we know tend to come back," Hartig said. "It was not as fun for us - but it never deterred him."
HONORING THE MAN
Because of Hartig, Jason Kent's words and determination will be honored appropriately today.
This afternoon, Ball State will observe a moment of silence prior to the National Anthem in honor of all former Ball State student-athletes, coaches and administrators who died in the last year, Joe Hernandez, associate athletics director for external affairs, said.
Hartig approached Hernandez earlier this month about holding a moment of silence to honor Jason Kent. After discussing the matter with the athletic staff, Hartig said Hernandez told her they would take the time to honor a larger group. Nonetheless, Hernandez said he remembered Jason Kent as a great person and a very unique individual.
"He was always a little out of the box compared to your routine football player," Hernandez said. "- A great young man who died too soon."
ATHLETE GONE WRITER
"He had the talent on the field, and could really be a people person," Grant Gray, his collegiate best friend and football teammate said. "He was understandable, very motivated."
Jason Kent was motivated not only on the field, but in the classroom, his mother said. His talent and love for writing demonstrated his drive in multiple ways, friends said.
"When he went to college he always wanted to write," Dorothy Kent said. "Lots of poems and poetry - he even wrote an article for the paper to get the guy enthused."
On Nov. 22, 1996, Jason Kent's "Your Turn" column "This is all about life; champions we all are" was published in the Daily News. It was a letter originally written to his teammates after the team lost their first regular season game to Kansas University. The Cardinals finished 1996 with an 8-4 record and a 7-1 first place finish in the Mid-American Conference.
Writing was something Jason Kent did to simply speak his mind, Frank Schillace, his best friend since childhood, said.
"If he had a feeling, he wrote it down and he told people about it," Schillace said.
Jason Kent was always willing and ready to improve his writing, Hartig said.
"He dedicated so much time to writing," Hartig said. "He'd wake me up in the middle of the night and go, 'What do you think of this?'"
Jason Kent completed two books in his time, although neither was professionally published, Dorothy Kent said. The first, "I, the Insane Killer" was about the life of a black abortion doctor. His second, "These are the Things that Eye See," was a collection of short poems and stories.
"He said this is something he always wanted to do," Dorothy Kent said.
DETERMINATION
Hartig said her boyfriend wrote a favorite phrase on many of the items he owned: "As time moves, we are believed to move with it, but in truth and reality we move and control time."
"He lived in the moment," she said.
It's a basis for his life friends say he got from his family.
"When he was a kid, his dad was a big influence on him" Schillace said.
Jason's father, John Kent, takes credit for his son's drive and determination. However, he says other aspects of his son's personality seem to have come from elsewhere.
"He was a gifted child," John Kent said. "He's a deep thinker - but he didn't get it from me."
After his death, Jason Kent's mother was surprised by the way her son had affected others.
"I've sat back in awe of everything," she said. "To me he was just my son, and to hear others - not knowing how much they respected him - they valued him."
John Kent recalls the way his son could light up a room.
"He was just that kind of person," he said. "Happy - a big radiant smile, a big hearty voice. A very positive person."
MOVING ON
Nearly six months after his death, life goes on for Jason Kent's friends and family. Today, Hartig, Schillace, Gray and John Kent expect to meet at the stadium and pause in a moment of silence to remember a boyfriend, a best friend and a son who enjoyed life.
"It's a deep, painful loss," Gray said.
The others agreed and said of all weekends, Homecoming was the best one to remember Jason Kent.
"I'm going to go to the game," Hartig said. "I'm going to cheer for BSU. I hope they continue the win from last week. He'd have it no other way - that's what I have to remember."
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