Unsung Heroes: Remembering Robert H. Benson

Baseball is a very simple game. Albeit there are several different positions on the field, generally speaking, the objective remains the same: You throw the ball, you hit the ball and you catch the ball.

That’s a given.

What’s not so easy is playing host to a Babe Ruth World Series -- especially, for the very first time.

Flashback to 1980, and the city of Jamestown found itself in a similar predicament.

“The first time it (the Babe Ruth World Series) was here, it was a huge deal,” said local area resident Tom Benson, as he reflected on the events that took place approximately 35 years ago. “The whole town got involved with it; there was this parade that was fantastic... it was just an exciting event.”

Ironically, the late Robert H. Benson, Tom’s father, was one of three men who worked so hard to make that 1980 Babe Ruth World Series Parade such a memorable event.

Robert H. Benson, a former apprentice sheet metal worker at Dawson Metal Co. Inc., partnered up with Les Ostrander and William L. Greenwood to design a parade float that was to be featured in the original Babe Ruth Parade. Following countless hours of work, the trio successfully constructed the float, which featured a 32-foot long baseball bat and a 36-inch diameter ball – a feat that at that time had never before been accomplished.

“They mounted the bat on the back of a truck that had a bucket, you know, one of those things that lifts up and down,” said Benson, as he tried to explain the creation that was put together by his father. “As they were going down the parade route, the back was moving up and down. It was just a spectacle; nobody expected to see it.”

What makes things even more impressive was the timing. Back in those days, technology was lacking; there were no computers. Benson and his crew had to figure out how to take those pieces of steel and bend them, mechanically, to make such big structures.

Clearly, he had the motivation to do so.

“The parade was a big deal (to my father) because it brought outside people to town,” said Benson, as he considered his father’s motives. “He really wanted to make it special.”

Fast-forward 35 years later, and it’s safe to say: he did just that.

Having coached midget football and little league baseball in excess of 20 years, Robert H. Benson had a genuine love for the community; he was always looking for an opportunity to contribute. So much so that despite being a Cleveland Indians fan, he actually agreed to play Babe Ruth in Jamestown’s first ever World Series Parade.

“He was up on the float next to the bat,” said Benson, as he attempted to recreate the scenario. “He had an old Yankees uniform on… He stuffed his stomach to make it look like Ruth; and of course, that killed him because he was an Indians fan. He sacrificed his Indian fandom for that one day to dress up as a Yankee.”

For Thomas Benson and many others across Western New York, that one-day will not soon be forgotten.

“Guys like my dad made a difference in hundreds of kids lives,” said Benson. “I see people constantly, who to this day, come up to me and say ‘Jeez, without your dad, I don’t know where I would have ended up.’”

He continued.

“The legacy he built wasn’t about making a lot of money and buying a lot of material stuff. It was about making the world better, which is what we all should be doing.”

Thirty-five years ago, the selfless contributions made by the late Robert H. Benson “put the icing on the cake” to that first ever Babe Ruth World Series Parade. In retrospect, his legacy, “speaks for itself.”