Adam O’Connell is not a football fan.
He never watches games. But he’s an important contributor to Packers training camp, because he’s The Bike Guy.
O’Connell, who lives in Greenleaf, sets up his tent in Lot 1 on the east side of Lambeau Field, where he provides free bicycles for kids who want to join in the tradition of accompanying Packers players from the locker room to Ray Nitschke practice field.
“This is my football season. Once training camp is over, we’re all done,” he said. “This is so much fun. My daughter, every night she’s like, ‘What time are we leaving! What time are we leaving!'”
O’Connell, with the help of his three kids, has been handing out bicycles for 17 or 18 years. He’s kind of foggy on when it began, but he does know that in all that time, one bike didn’t make its way back.
“We found it at Kwik Trip,” he said.
His now 26-year-old son is credited with starting the practice.
“When he was about 10 – he went to school in Ashwaubenon – he’d see a lot of kids standing around and he’d say, ‘Can I bring one of my old bikes with me because maybe we can get somebody else on there?’ I said that’s a good idea. We found another one at a yard sale, and then I went to three, to a pickup truck, to a small trailer.
“I think we have 35 bikes we’ve accumulated over time. As some of these kids grow out of their bike, they want to donate it.”
Eleven-year-old Isaac Boettcher didn’t know about the free bikes until the second day of this year’s training camp, when he came across O’Connell’s tent. He borrowed a bike July 30, but didn’t get picked. He was back the next day and scored a trip with offensive lineman Donovan Jennings.
“I was just walking around and all of a sudden saw the free bikes,” said Boettcher, who attended his fifth training camp day over the last two years. He thought, why not?
He said he enjoyed the ride down, but wasn’t planning on escorting Jennings back. Boettcher knew the best time to get autographs was after practice and secured a prime spot where the players exit the practice field.
Packers training camp this year has been more heavily attended than in recent years, which O’Connell also noticed from his perspective of watching the bike corral; the first two days of camp had kids lined up on both sides of the path to the practice field.
“I’ve never seen that. Yesterday and Wednesday was the busiest I’ve ever seen it. I think we counted in the 430-450 range on Wednesday and yesterday it was just over 300 bikes in line. Today is was about 200,” he said.
There’s no telling what will lead kids to his tent. On July 31, he loaned a bike to a kid from Manitowoc who got to Lambeau Field and discovered his bike’s tires were flat.
“Most of the time, it’s like grandma and grandpa bringing three kids. They can’t bring three bikes. Or it’s out-of-state stuff. They didn’t know what was going on.”
O’Connell said there’s a story from every year that prompts him to keep offering free bikes.
Last year, he said, a grandfather and his 12- or 13-year-old grandson came to training camp, but were not aware of its activities, especially the bike-riding tradition. They borrowed a bike and the grandson got picked by a player. The grandfather didn’t have his phone, so they had no way to document the experience. O’Connell videoed the kid with his phone and sent the video to the grandmother, who was at home.
“The kid goes by, he has a big smile, he’s grinning and grandpa’s running on the other side. It was the best,” O’Connell said. “She sent me a text later that day saying ‘it was so cool.'”
O’Connell tries to be at all of the public training camp practices, but he still works full time, so sometimes he can’t make it or arrange for someone to cover for him, usually for practices near the end of camp, when it’s not as well attended. But when there are joint practices with opposing teams, as there will be Aug. 26, and attendance ramps up again, he and his bikes are there.
Contact Richard Ryman at rryman@usatodayco.com. Follow him on X at @RichRymanPG and on Instagram at @rrymanPG.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: ‘The Bike Guy’ helps kids join Packers training camp tradition
Reporting by Richard Ryman, Green Bay Press-Gazette / Green Bay Press-Gazette
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Richard Ryman, Green Bay Press-Gazette | USA TODAY Network
