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C Byron 'B.J.' Mullens (BCH Knights The League, Mongolia)
- By ScriptOhio
- Buckeye Alumni
- 1256 Replies
Just sayin': I found an old Columbus Dispatch article (i.e. 7 Mar 2009) on him. If you don't know how he had it growing up, it's worth reading.
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His father, Paul, wasn't around much. His mother, Barbara, struggled to keep the family functioning, not always successfully.
Mullens has four half-brothers and a half-sister. The family was constantly on the move, looking for stability that always seemed to elude it.
"There were a few years we were living in a shelter, a few years where we were just struggling to make it," Mullens said. "We had to move to different houses because we couldn't pay the payments on the rent."
Mullens has lost count of the number of houses he tried to call home in the Bottoms and Hilltop neighborhoods. "I'd say 12 or 13, probably more," he said.
He runs out of fingers trying to calculate the number of schools, as well.
"I think it was 10 or 11," he said.
The family had to survive by whatever means necessary. For some, that meant dealing drugs. Mullens' oldest brother, Gabe Jabbour, is candid about his past.
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For Mullens' family, clothes often came from the Salvation Army.
"They gave us a bag with a Kmart coat and two pairs of jeans that were so tight around your legs you couldn't breathe," Jabbour said. "That's what our shopping was."
Food was not a given, either. Jabbour said his mom once went to a local store with a sign that read, "Will work for food or clothes."
"People stopped and gave us clothes and money and helped us out," he said.
Sometimes, the family would go to a Downtown charity for bags of sandwiches. Thanksgiving dinners were spent at a homeless shelter or church.
In such an environment, it should not be surprising that school was an afterthought. Mullens missed chunks and was seldom in the same school long enough to settle in. No one in his family had graduated from high school, and he hardly seemed destined to be the first.
"I was like, there's no shot for me out in the real world," Mullens said. "School wasn't my first priority."
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As much as Mullens might have liked to use basketball to distance himself from his rough surroundings, he couldn't entirely. Just as he was warming up to the sport, Mullens received a sweater with an AAU patch. It was one of the rare items of clothing that fit him, and it became a prized possession.
One night, Gabe borrowed the sweater, unbeknownst to Mullens. In the middle of a drug deal, Gabe got shot in the arm, putting a hole in the sweater.
"I wish I still had that sweater," Mullens said.
Around the same time, Mullens was on the porch one night when a drive-by shooting took place four houses away.
"I didn't know what it was," he said. "I just got on the ground. It was scary. But that's the lifestyle."
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continued
Off the streets
B.J. Mullens grew up a huge Ohio State fan just a few miles from campus. But for most of his childhood, he didn't dream of playing of playing basketball for the Buckeyes, let alone in the NBA. Dream…
www.dispatch.com
Off the streets
..
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His father, Paul, wasn't around much. His mother, Barbara, struggled to keep the family functioning, not always successfully.
Mullens has four half-brothers and a half-sister. The family was constantly on the move, looking for stability that always seemed to elude it.
"There were a few years we were living in a shelter, a few years where we were just struggling to make it," Mullens said. "We had to move to different houses because we couldn't pay the payments on the rent."
Mullens has lost count of the number of houses he tried to call home in the Bottoms and Hilltop neighborhoods. "I'd say 12 or 13, probably more," he said.
He runs out of fingers trying to calculate the number of schools, as well.
"I think it was 10 or 11," he said.
The family had to survive by whatever means necessary. For some, that meant dealing drugs. Mullens' oldest brother, Gabe Jabbour, is candid about his past.
.
.
.
For Mullens' family, clothes often came from the Salvation Army.
"They gave us a bag with a Kmart coat and two pairs of jeans that were so tight around your legs you couldn't breathe," Jabbour said. "That's what our shopping was."
Food was not a given, either. Jabbour said his mom once went to a local store with a sign that read, "Will work for food or clothes."
"People stopped and gave us clothes and money and helped us out," he said.
Sometimes, the family would go to a Downtown charity for bags of sandwiches. Thanksgiving dinners were spent at a homeless shelter or church.
In such an environment, it should not be surprising that school was an afterthought. Mullens missed chunks and was seldom in the same school long enough to settle in. No one in his family had graduated from high school, and he hardly seemed destined to be the first.
"I was like, there's no shot for me out in the real world," Mullens said. "School wasn't my first priority."
.
.
.
As much as Mullens might have liked to use basketball to distance himself from his rough surroundings, he couldn't entirely. Just as he was warming up to the sport, Mullens received a sweater with an AAU patch. It was one of the rare items of clothing that fit him, and it became a prized possession.
One night, Gabe borrowed the sweater, unbeknownst to Mullens. In the middle of a drug deal, Gabe got shot in the arm, putting a hole in the sweater.
"I wish I still had that sweater," Mullens said.
Around the same time, Mullens was on the porch one night when a drive-by shooting took place four houses away.
"I didn't know what it was," he said. "I just got on the ground. It was scary. But that's the lifestyle."
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continued
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Illinois Fighting Illini (you'll see)
- By Illini Dylan
- College Football
- 2681 Replies
Bielema hit a big milestone as an Illinois coach with his 30th win yesterday.Re: Illinois #9, Illinois has its first top-10 ranking since it was No. 7 in December 2001.
Just sayin': Hey, give Fat Bert some credit here; he ran up the score in beating 2 garbage teams (W. ILL 52-3 and Duke 45-19) and has the Illini in the TOP TEN. He has a very favorable schedule, i.e. 3 cupcakes and only has to play 2 B1G teams that are currently ranked (Ohio State and Indiana). He could easily have another 10-3 year.
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Say what you will about Bert, but he's taken a dead ass dumpster fire program and building into something kind of decent. Even in the NIL era, Illinois football is not an easy job.
And the Illini had to go to Penn State and Oregon last year, unlike Indiana who got the luckiest cream puff schedule possible outside of 1 game, so if Illinois gets in the playoff because of that, I'm good with it.
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