The son of Edward F. Hitchman, a noted cricket authority and journalist,[REF] Hitchman was born in Toronto, although his family moved to Ottawa when he 21 [REF].
Subsequently serving in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, he had shown enough to be invited to join the Ottawa New Edinburghs of the senior Ottawa City Hockey League, for whom he played in 24 games over the 1922 and 1923 seasons.