AUBURN, Ala. – Marine veteran Tom Van Ness stepped onto Pat Dye Field at Jordan-Hare Stadium Saturday night with his family as the Ford Game Day Hero.
"The feeling just overwhelms you and I know I had the biggest smile on my face I think I've ever had," Van Ness said. "It was pretty awesome and a great experience being on that big of a stage having so many people cheering for you. It was really exciting."
Van Ness joined the Marines in 1993 and moved back to Chicago where he grew up to finish out his service in the Marines Reserve. After learning that a member of his family had fallen ill, he and his wife moved down to their future home and began their new life.
"My mother and father-in-law lived down here and when he got sick, we decided to move down from Chicago to take care of him. We knew we had to find work, so we opened a hair salon of all things," he said, smirking as he rubbed his freshly shaved head. "We got it all set up and ready to go and I didn't really have much to do, so I decided to go back to school and get my CPA."
As Tom prepares to graduate this summer from Auburn University's Harbert College of Business, he reflects on his journey to Auburn and how the atmosphere on the Plains convinced him that he had made a great decision.
"I was a union carpenter up in Chicago and with the different climate in the South, the construction was a little different down here, so I needed a new path living in Alabama and Auburn University helped me get squared away for my later years in life," he said.
"I avoided campus for a while because I thought it was too busy, but I finally came downtown to experience a couple football games and I fell in love with Auburn University right away," he said. "Now that I am a student, I walk down the halls and can't believe how lucky I am to be here."
Van Ness is an active member of the Auburn Student Veterans Association and enjoys the comradery he gets from his fellow student veterans.
"I had a couple of people that I went to class with turn me on the ASVA," he said. "I started to get to know the people in the group and you just form a bond. We all know where we are coming from and know where we have been, so it was easy to start a conversation versus with someone else who doesn't have a similar experience. No matter where you're from, what you have done previously, you have that bond that brings you together."
As a Marine, Van Ness knows a lot about believing in hard work and loving it. He has a message to not just his fellow vets, but to any and all looking to better themselves each day.
"Get involved, find something you love, and be passionate about doing it. Stay plugged in and it will make a world of a difference."
Tom Van Ness, thank you for your service and War Eagle.
Ford Game Day Hero Tom Van Ness, left, acknowledges cheers during Auburn's game against Kent State
Navy veteran Jonathan Housand is a student assistant in Auburn Athletics communications