By Steve Holt, Sports Writer
Watching track and field star Marvin Bien-Aime compete today, someone might never imagine his humble beginnings.
Living with his immigrant parents and sister in a one-room apartment in South Florida.
Running competitively for the first time as a high school junior.
Suffering an injury that ruined his senior season – and never qualifying for a state championship.
Struggling to pay tuition as a walk-on freshman at ACU.
When watching Bien-Aime compete today, however, spectators see a scholarship sprinter with a 200-meter dash national championship and indoor school record on his collegiate resume. And as a junior, Bien-Aime is not yet finished surprising people with his accomplishments.
Bien-Aime is short but muscular – 5-foot-10-inch, 165 pounds – a physique similar to American sprinter Maurice Green. But where Bien-Aime and the former world record holder differ is in attitude – Bien-Aime doesn’t have a swagger in his body. He has risen to Division II stardom – with accolades that include a 2005 outdoor 200-meter dash title and a school record Feb. 11 in the 200-meter dash – quietly and humbly.
Bien-Aime’s parents immigrated to the United States from Haiti’s capital city, Port au Prince, in the early 1980s. They settled in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., where Marvin was born a few years later. Life in a one-bedroom apartment was tough for the Bien-Aimes in those early days, Marvin remembers.
“It was a struggle. I never saw my dad – he was working two jobs, and- with accolades that include a 2005 outdoor 200-meter dash title and a school record Feb. 11 in the 200-meter dash – quietly and humbly.
Bien-Aime’s parents immigrated to the United States from Haiti’s capital city, Port au Prince, in the early 1980s. They settled in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., where Marvin was born a few years later. Life in a one-bedroom apartment was tough for the Bien-Aimes in those early days, Marvin remembers.
“It was a struggle. I never saw my dad – he was working two jobs, and my mom was also working,” he said. “Me and my little sister were pretty much raised by my cousins and my aunts – I never saw my parents growing up.”
Bien-Aime’s father worked in a restaurant and in a men’s storet. I didn’t want to talk and then get embarrassed,” Bien-Aime said.
But Bien-Aime recovered from a slow start – a problem he claims still ails him – to pull past his classmates and win his first “official” race.
“It just kind of clicked from then on,” Bien-Aime said.
Even still, organized track and field was a long way off. Bien-Aime’s first love in high school was football.
He remembers a game his junior year, however, when the opposing running back broke free from his own one-yard line, and Bien-Aime ran down player from the cornerback slot. When Bien-Aime returned to the sideline, his defensive backs coach asked him, “Why aren’t you running track?”
Bien-Aime, thinking track and field was only distance running, replied, “I’m not running that, man.”
He said his coach then looked him in the eye and said, “If you don’t run track this year, you’re not playing football next year.”
Despite having one of the top 200-meter times in Florida as a junior in 2002, Bien-Aime found little success in his two seasons of high school track and field. He turned the heads of a few Division I universities after his junior year – Tennessee, Florida International, and South Florida – but their interest faded after getting word that Bien-Aime had suffered a groin injury during his senior year.
Walking On
With college decisions approaching, and knowing that he wanted to pursue track and field at the next level, Bien-Aime and his guidance counselor began to research Division II programs.
“The school that just kept popping up was Abilene Christian, and I was like, ‘What is this?'” he said. “I’m a mama’s boy; I didn’t want to leave Florida at all. I was like, ‘I’m not going to Texas.'”
After driving from Plantation to Abilene to visit the university, however, Bien-Aime was hit with the realization that the Wildcat track and field program was out of the ordinary with 12 men’s outdoor titles.
“I thought, ‘Maybe it’s not a bad decision,'” Bien-Aime remembered.
The high school senior applied, was accepted, and then-head coach Jon Murray allowed Bien-Aime to walk onto the track and field team to compete. He broke his personal best time in his first collegiate competition. He continued to improve each meet. He would finish eighth in the 100-meter dash, but second in the 200-meter dash at the NCAA Division II Outdoor National Championships.
Head coach Don Hood emphasized how unusual it is for walk-ons to achieve the kind of early success of Bien-Aime.
“It doesn’t happen very often, especially in the sprints,” Hood said. “Marvin is different. He has no doubt about his potential. He just needed a place to train and compete.”
He said he surprised even himself with how quickly he adjusted to the bigger stage.
“In high school, when I’d run against big names, I would get nervous and timid,” Bien-Aime said. “When I got to ACU, though, I told myself I couldn’t do that – I couldn’t fear any competition. So I just ran. Without thinking, I just ran.”
Without a scholarship, however, Bien-Aime and his family struggled to find the money to pay for tuition. What’s more, the sprinter struggled to make friends on the track and field team.
With improved sprint times from high school and having proven he had overcome past injuries, Bien-Aime considered transferring to the University of Tennessee. After a conversation with Murray, however, Bien-Aime decided to stick it out as a Wildcat. He would be glad he did.
Title Time
In the spring of 2005, Bien-Aime came into his own as a Wildcat track and field athlete. Now on scholarship, Bien-Aime placed a close second in the 200-meter dash indoors before finishing sixth in the 100-meter dash and first in the 200-meter dash. The sophomore’s championship in the 200 meters was the first such title since Nic Alexander’s title in 2000. Bien-Aime’s performances also helped ACU win team championships both indoors and outdoors. But after his rapid success as a freshman in 2004, Bien-Aime took his national title in stride.
“I knew what my ability was, and I just felt I needed to put in the extra time and work hard,” Bien-Aime said of last season’s success. “So the way the season went, it really didn’t come as a surprise.”
On Feb. 11, Bien-Aime broke the school record in the indoor 200-meter dash, winning the event in a blistering 21.27 seconds at the New Mexico Albuquerque Invitational. He is a favorite to win the event at the NCAA Division II Indoor National Championships.
“Marvin is a perfect mix of great talent with great work ethic,” Hood said. “He would be a good runner without working hard, but his hard work allows him to rise up to a higher level.”
Haitian Dream
But while Bien-Aime said he has a goal to break the school outdoor 200-meter dash time of 20.56, he has a greater ambition to shoot for.
“My whole purpose for running track is to run for Haiti,” Bien-Aime said. “If I can represent them in a few big meets, I think I can gain their trust. My whole objective is to keep getting faster, get on that level, and compete for them, so I can begin doing the things I want to do – like rebuilding that country, getting kids into schools. That goal has really made me stay focused and work hard.”
Hood said he believes Bien-Aime’s dreams of competing professionally are certainly not far-fetched.
“I won’t place any limits on him,” Hood said. “He has already exceeded the expectations most people had for him. If he can continue to work hard and stay healthy, I believe he has the ability to compete at the highest level.”
Clearly, Bien-Aime’s heart is in the little nation where his parents were born, a nation whose flag hangs on his wall above his bed.
“Sometimes, before I go to bed at night, I think about all the stuff that’s going on over there,” he said. “Sometimes it’s overwhelming, and sometimes I even cry.”
Bien-Aime pulls for Haiti – an underdog in the world – because he can identify with it himself. He has not forgotten his roots and the distance he has come from racing neighbor kids in the streets of south Florida.
Maybe that is why Bien-Aime connects with the 200-meter dash so much: Even if you have a bad start, you can still make up the distance and come away with a victory.
