Bennie Bennett was one of York County’s first local sports role models

Finding people to gush about Bennie Bennett proved easy on Monday.

One of Winthrop’s first men’s basketball standouts and a longtime educator and coach in York County, Bennett passed away Saturday evening at the scene of a car crash in Newberry.

The 56-year old left behind his wife, Frankie, and two adult children, Kelly and Brittany, as well as a legacy that would make any Winthrop P.E. major proud. Bennett’s influence on young people through education and athletics – many of whom have continued that work in their own adult lives – will be remembered long beyond the 1,296 points he scored for the Eagles from 1978 to 1981, or his Winthrop Hall of Fame induction in 2006.

“He gave his time and his efforts to making everyone around him better,” said Clover boys’ basketball coach Bailey Jackson, who played for Bennett at Clover 25 years ago. “He wanted us to be better, whether he was coaching, in administration, or at the district office. He was so tough out on that court, but I used to go sit in his office and talk to him just like this.”

“Snake”

Bennett was integral in the baby steps of Winthrop men’s basketball.

He was a 6-foot-1 guard at Newberry College that transferred to Winthrop in 1977, following his coach Nield Gordon to Rock Hill to launch the Eagles men’s basketball program. Tim Raxter was a 6-foot-7 freshman at Winthrop in 1978 when Bennett took him under his wing, an early example of the knack Bennett had for molding younger people.

“He had a way about the way he did things,” said Raxter, a Rock Hill High graduate. “He could be serious but he could be comical at the same time. He was almost like a coach. He would just take the ball and lead.”

Bennett averaged 13 points per game for his career, and became the program’s first 1,000-point scorer. Andy Solomon, Winthrop’s first sports information director, remembers stopping the game and walking on the court to honor Bennett.

“He never got too high and he never got too low,” said Solomon, now the associate athletics director at The Citadel. “In retrospect, that was a sign of a good leader.”

Teammates nicknamed Bennett “Snake,” because of his ability to slither between defenders. ESPN writer and Rock Hill native Chris Low’s lasting memory of Bennett’s playing style was a quick burst past a defender, before elevating off the court - like a cobra about to strike - to unleash a feathery jumper as the wobbled defender tried to recover.

Saturday night star

Bennett and his Winthrop teammates were a big deal in Rock Hill, the first men’s college sports team in town. They packed the cramped gym at Sullivan Middle School on Saturday nights. During basketball season that was the place to be.

“It was a highlight,” said Low, who was around 13 or 14 years old at the time. “You were so close to the court, man, you felt like you could reach out and touch these guys.”

Despite his quiet demeanor, Bennett developed a star status in town and locals were delighted when he decided to stick around post-graduation.

Low and his younger brother Patrick befriended Bennett, their family hosting him for Sunday dinners a handful of times. The Low brothers never felt cooler than when the always accessible Bennett would shoot hoops with them in their driveway. He began his teaching career at Castle Heights Middle School where he used his minor celebrity status to impact the first of thousands of young people over the next 30-plus years.

“You didn’t have to spend much time around him back then to realize he was destined to be a world class educator,” said Low. “That this would be a guy who would touch people’s lives in so many ways.”

A great influence

Bennett’s basketball skills, affability and rock solid character helped endear him to people of all ages and colors, a unique gift in South Carolina in the late 1970s and 1980s. It was certainly a less tolerant time than now.

“It didn’t matter who you were, what race you were, he just mentored and would teach,” said Raxter. “Bennie had a heart the size of Texas; he’d do anything for his students.”

Bennett began his high school coaching career with the Clover JV team, before heading over to Fort Mill to coach the Yellow Jackets’ varsity. There he worked alongside girls’ basketball coach and fellow P.E. teacher Pam Pittman in the mid-1980s. She laughed at the memories of teaching line-dancing in their P.E. classes.

“We just had a ball together,” said Pittman. “He was such a great influence on kids. The kids just gravitated toward him. Everyone did.”

Pittman remembered Bennett having his entire career in education very clearly mapped out. Bennett was from a tiny town east of I-95 in Clarendon County, but never allowed a humble upbringing or the premature death of his father to prevent him from reaching his goals. That was the message he gave to his first Clover basketball team in 1989, including Jackson. The Blue Eagles won just eight games the first season but made the playoffs the following year, the beginning of a successful run.

Jackson utilized that same mindset when he became a head coach at Fort Mill. The Yellow Jackets won two games his first season, but four years later were state champs. The first person that Jackson embraced after shaking the opposing coach’s hand was his mentor, Bennie Bennett.

“I have an idea of how it’s supposed to be done because I was around him,” said Jackson.

The biggest impact

At one point during his tenure at Clover, Bennett was the basketball coach, athletics director and an assistant principal. He eventually shifted into administration full-time, becoming the principal at Clover Middle School, the first African-American superintendent in Clover, and the superintendent of Newberry County schools for the last 10 years.

“Let me anticipate a question you’re gonna ask,” Solomon told a reporter. “Am I surprised at the success he had as an educator? No, I’m not surprised. I’m impressed.”

Solomon mentioned Bennett’s “infectious smile” five times during an interview. Four or five others described Bennett as a genuinely nice person. But he was also the quietly fierce basketball star, and later the high school coach that made his team practice after a Friday night loss, even when the players were supposed to be at a school dance. It seemed like Bennett housed two people at odds with each other.

“He showed you that you could be competitive as hell, but you can still be kind and humble and a gentleman, and he was all those things,” said Low.

As a person gets older, time and memory filter the people that they’ve encountered in life. The ones that remain in the heart all the years later tend to be the ones that made the biggest impact. That’s why anyone asked to talk about Bennie Bennett on Monday was more than willing, even as the shock of his death lingered like a smoky cloud.

“When I look back on my childhood days,”said Low, “I don’t know that there’s anybody that I had more respect for and was more honored to know than Bennie Bennett, because of all he’s accomplished, the way he treated people and what’s he meant to people.”

This story was originally published April 18, 2016 at 7:31 PM with the headline "Bennie Bennett was one of York County’s first local sports role models."