Now that’s what you call a real struggle. Often college football athletes are bashed for their lavish lifestyle, splurging in luxury gifts, and picture-perfect getaways. Not many know the story of their life that is often not talked about. Indiana Hoosiers linebacker Aiden Fisher is one of them.

Even though he is 20 years old and soon to be 21, Fisher has seen all that life has to offer. He lost his dad, Christopher, back in 2014. From then on, Fisher is now on a mission to make him proud wherever he is now. 

The story of Aiden Fisher’s heartbreak and strength

Coach Cignetti’s No.4 guy is all about focus. Either Fisher is found smiling or deeply engrossed in some thoughts. His Instagram profile talks only about his love for the Hoosiers army. But not to forget, he is carrying with him a big void. The void of losing one’s father is irreplaceable no matter what he achieves in his life. When he was 5, Fisher’s mother and his dad got divorced. But still, the pain was somehow bearable since he knew that he still had both his parents around. He has always described Christopher as a “great man.”

Six years later, came the ominous day. Sadly, it was also Fisher’s 11th birthday. The phone rang, and it was his grandfather on the other side of the call. At first, they expected to receive birthday wishes from his grandparents and his father, Christopher. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen, and they received the news of his father passing away. Well, that was not the end.

Fisher then had his stepfather, Vinny, to support him. But even this time, life turned out to be cruel. Five years later, after his father Christopher’s demise, Fisher’s stepfather was diagnosed with an aggressive terminal brain tumor. But that didn’t stop him from making regular appearances on the field to root for Fisher. But sadly, the Hoosiers LB lost his stepdad too. That’s when the young chap turned his losses into his strengths. 

Fisher’s quest to honor his late guiding stars  

In one of his interviews with the Big Network, Fisher confessed, “You’re put in people’s lives for a reason, in my opinion. Not only me, but those men in my life. They taught me some things that I never thought I’d be able to learn from people.” Now the fire to make his father proud burns brighter within him.

And when Fisher is in the ‘Google Me’ man, Cignetti’s program, he surely will never run out of motivation. So before their face-off against Notre Dame Fighting Irish on December 20, Saturday, the young chap sounded a lot like his HC. Coming fresh off their first loss of this season and the Ohio State mishap, Fisher ran high on confidence. “I know a lot of the guys here, the JMU guys, I think we lost three times in the last two years. It’s not a feeling that we like and not a feeling that we want to repeat,” shared the linebacker.

That’s how James Madison University transfers like Aiden Fisher have helped in building a winning culture in Bloomington. Fisher may have lost his guiding stars, but now he’s playing to light up the heavens with a win over Notre Dame, carrying with him the No.4 jersey, which signifies the bond with his mother and sisters.