Neal Benson: Bisons never give up
Chris Pepple |
If you saw Neal Benson in 1985 during his senior year at David Lipscomb High School, you would have thought he was a kid on his way to making all of his dreams come true. He lived with his parents and sister in a typical middle-class setting in Antioch, Tenn. He and his sister attended David Lipscomb Campus School, and Neal was fulfilling his dream of playing baseball. Life seemed to be going well.
“In many ways, I had it made,” said Benson. “I was enjoying my time at Lipscomb, getting a great education and playing baseball for the Mustangs. I signed to pitch for the Bisons because playing for Ken Dugan had been my dream. By my senior year in high school, though, I was headed down the wrong road just because I tried to be popular.”
During his junior year in high school, Benson took a ride that changed his life forever. “I took a ride with some guys I knew. They introduced me to marijuana for the first time, and I made the choice to go down that road with them,” Benson said.
Benson stayed active on the high school baseball team and joined the Bisons as a pitcher once he reached college. His college baseball card reads like someone on the road to success: “First-team All-Nashville senior year in high school…4-1 record freshman year as a pitcher…ERA of 1.85 was the lowest on the staff…Expected to continue outstanding job as a sophomore.”
Soon Benson found himself heavily involved with alcohol and drugs, however. He lived off campus which made his habits easier to hide from others. He could no longer hide his choices, however, once his grades and his pitching performance started to suffer.
“By the time I reached my junior year, Coach Dugan realized what was happening to me and gave me several chances to clean up my act,” Benson said. “I didn’t accept any of his help. I was 20 years old by then, and I had never had to work. I thought I could do things my way. I had a hard lesson to learn when Lipscomb University did not renew my scholarship for my senior year, and I had to leave school. I had thrown away all of my opportunities and humiliated my family.”
Benson admits that he wandered through life for several years abandoning his dreams and his faith. He tried several secular rehabilitation centers, but never managed to break the power of his addictions.
“I finally woke up 11 years later crying out to God for help. I went to a Christian-based rehab center in West Virginia called Teen Challenge and lived on a 25-acre ranch for a year while I went through the program. After that, things fell into place for me. I married a wonderful Christian woman from Harding University and we have two sons now, Jackson (6) and Nathan (2). I am so thankful to God for his forgiveness. I feel like the prodigal son returning,” said Benson. His life changed even more after receiving an invitation to a Bisons 1987 baseball team reunion.
“When the invitations went out for the team reunion, I was excited that the first RSVP came from Neal. He said he was coming along with his wife and two children. In the e-mail, I felt like it was just an RSVP and a response was not needed,” said Andy Lane, assistant director of athletics at Lipscomb University. “A day before the reunion I got a phone message from Neal. When I called him, his first response was ‘Is it still OK for me to come the reunion?’ I quickly told him yes and how we were elated that his was the first response.
“He said when he didn't get an e-mail back, he thought that maybe we made a mistake and we really didn't want him to come. He didn't want to mess up all the great things Coach Forehand is doing and didn't want his return to put a damper on the situation. I excitedly told him that one of the highlights was his return. As I listened to him talk, tears were in my heart listening to him. Neal said, ‘Andy when I was in school I made a lot of mistakes and poor choices. With my decisions I made I realized I blew a great thing.’ He talked about being young and in school, but not being a finisher. He said he was saddened that his mother passed away without seeing him come back to school. Neal said when he received the reunion letter from Lipscomb, he knew this was an opportunity to change things.”
Benson talked with Lane about the strong Christian beliefs he has now. Benson realized that he was looking forward to returning to campus after 20 years of not knowing how to rectify the situation.
He had been haunted by the fact that he is 40 hours short of getting his degree and asked if Lipscomb could put him in touch with someone that could help him complete school. He longed for the day for his Dad, wife and children could see him walk across the stage. The athletics department put him in touch with the right people to help him complete his degree. Among other people who helped make Benson’s return possible, Chuck Capps, assistant provost for the adult learning programs, helped Benson enroll in classes which allowed him to balance his career, his family life and his goal of getting his degree.
Benson now works as vice president with Tennessee Earth Works. He hopes to finish his undergraduate degree, and then continue his education at Lipscomb through the MBA program, pursuing the goal of eventually serving as a staff member at Lipscomb.
Benson now comes to campus knowing that Bisons never quit. He will complete his degree with a major in business management knowing that the Lipscomb athletic department never gives up on a player, and a Bison never gives up on a dream.