More Recollections of "Coach"

By Stephen Schempp

Editor's Note: Classmate Stephen Schempp is stationed in Afghanistan and sent this note of his recollections of Andrew Warde High School Coach Ed Bengermino.

One thing I remember about Benji was he had a great sense of humor. As much of a taskmaster he could be at times, once in a while he'd leave you in stitches. There are two moments in particular that I remember.

As a player, I was a pretty fair pitcher. We were playing Amity High School my freshman year, and I was pitching. It was a close game, and towards the end I was scheduled to bat. Benji decided to put in a pinch hitter for me. Someone asked him, "You're not going to let Schempp hit?" Benji replied, looking at me with this evil little grin on his face, "Schempp couldn't hit a watermelon if you rolled it up to the plate in a wheelbarrow."

The other time was sophomore year against Staples. We had something like a 4-1 lead, and I came up to bat with runners in scoring position. Benji was positioned at the third base coaching box as usual. Low and behold I managed to hit a hard liner to center driving in two runs. As I rounded first, I heard Benji yell in that raspy voice, "Schempp is now one for two years! Write that down in the scorecard. One for two years!" I stood on first embarrassed as hell, while the first baseman for Staples looked at me with this huge grin on his face, trying not to laugh.

To add to Tony's story, I was "umpiring" standing behind the Notre Dame pitcher when Bob hit that shot. That kid and I turned and watched it go over the fence. When I turned back around and looked at that pitcher, he looked at me and said, "Man, that was something, wasn't it?" Even the kid that threw the pitch was impressed.

Please sign the AWHS Class of 1976 Guest Book.

Visit the AWHS Class of 1976 Gift Shop.