Pssst, can I tell you something? Tom Benjamin is a heckofa coach, one of the best there is. He’s also a wonderful teacher. Benj just has a way about him that makes young people listen to him.Because of that, he’s impacted an impressive list of former players and students in his 32 years of coaching (Franklin basketball coach Brian Bales and Lebanon football coach Shawn Lamb, for example). He’s also got a really good Springboro girls’ basketball team going right now, 22-1 and ranked fourth in the state, playing the Mason Comets Saturday in the Division I District finals at Harrison H.S.
Benj is the real deal. Yes sir. His success hasn’t come by accident.
But we have to hush-hush about this, you understand? Allow me to explain.
I’m in that fraternity of a million of so people who regard Benj as a very good friend. We play golf together, we’ve gone to a Mellencamp concert together, and we both share a loyalty to both Springboro and Franklin, which makes some people think we’re lunatics.
In this fraternity, the unspoken values are of trust and respect and appreciation. We all feel that way about Benj, and he feels that way in return.
But I ‘m just not allowed to say that out loud. That’s against the fraternity rules.
By–law #4, section B, which comes right after keeping all dogs named Maggie away from Benj (my sister’s dog bit him … twice), says this: “All communication must be expressed in the form of funny, good-natured, shots. Fire away, but then duck.”
So, when around Benj, you have to be prepared to answer for any stupid thing you’ve done in the last three months, because he will have found out about it and will take a shot at you.
But it works the other way, too. If you want to make fun of his rugged good looks, his full head of hair or his ability to dominate around the basket (who’s hacked my computer here?), have at it.
So I risk being banished from the fraternity if I get too mushy here.
I first met Benj back in the fall of 1982 when he was an assistant football coach at Franklin and I was a new sportswriter for a local newspaper. For years, I was the guy looking for a good quote and Benj was the guy who always offered one.
Later, after he'd become Franklin's basketball coach, he also handled the district's truancy cases. By then I had begun working in the Warren County Prosecutor's Office as a young intern, handling -- among other things -- truancy cases. Benj was still a guy answering my questions, only now in a courtroom.
A few years later, it turned out that some of Benj’s good friends from Franklin were also my good friends, and we more or less ran in the same circle. This is when I really got to know the Benjamin Fraternity and the rules associated with it.
I’d be in a room full of guys with no complete names – Gab, SAG, Gordy, Silk, Griff, Jer, and Kev (and Kirb and Benj) -- and although we were all very good friends, the insults that were hurled about could embarrass Howard Stern.
That’s the way we would talk with one another. Shot, shot shot! That was the case then, and it’s still the case now.
Benj was a Wildcat until 2005, when he was confronted with a tough situation. Franklin was having a tough time passing school levies, and the future of its athletic program was in serious doubt. Meanwhile, Springboro was looking for a new girls basketball coach because Rick Creager, who’d held that responsibility almost 25 years, had stepped down.
Benj was the guy Springboro wanted. And Springboro has long been one of the best programs around. Benj thought long and hard, and in the end made the switch. He's now a Panther, yet he'll always be a Wildcat.
Benj is a winner. He's taken over a proud and storied program and kept it as strong as ever.
The Panthers went to the Regionals last year, the second time Benj has taken them there in the six years since he took over the program. By winning Saturday, they go back. The Panthers have a record of 141-34 with Benj as their coach, and that's impressive under anyone's standards.
He gives all the credit to his players, but all good coaches do that. I say it's good coaching, too. That’s all I can say about that.
This is where normally I’d quote other coaches and Benj’s former players, all of whom would say fabulous things about him, but I can’t do it and now you know why.
And I’d normally want to say I’m proud to know a guy who does such a stand-up job in a stand-up way, but I won’t be able to. Thanks for understanding.
Instead, I’ll just extend a tip of the cap and wish him luck, and trust that you won’t tell him what I’ve said. It’s a good thing he can’t read. Shot!
This story originally appeared in the Dayton Daily News 'Neighbors' section March 1, 2012