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Justice has conflict of colors
West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals Justice Brent Benjamin stands Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2010, while holding a 1968-era Buckeye football helmet and a hat worn in the 1970s by legendary Ohio State University football coach Woody Hayes. Both items are mementos that decorate the Buckeye graduates office.
Purchase this photoHUNTINGTON -- Justice Brent Benjamin has a conflict of colors.
The Ohio State University graduate and Marshall University parent will sit with the visiting team at Thursday's season-opening football game in Columbus, Ohio. He will wear the green and white, but Herd faithful sitting around him won't see Benjamin root against his alma mater.
"I think it's going to be a good game," he said. "I kind of like underdogs. I think a lot of people are forgetting that this is going to be Ohio State's opening game also. Their jitters will be there too. They have a lot to live up to.
"The Marshall players have an opportunity here. An opportunity to learn a lot about themselves, but an opportunity to really show what they are all about," Benjamin added.
Benjamin, one of five justices sitting on the state Supreme Court of Appeals, hails from Columbus. He was born in Marietta, Ohio, but soon relocated to central Ohio. He later played lacrosse for Ohio State, where he attended undergraduate classes and law school. He and his wife then married and moved their small family to Charleston, where he practiced law before being elected as justice in 2004.
Benjamin and his wife have five children -- two sons and three daughters. Each of the girls have studied at Marshall University. Laura Benjamin is a graduate student studying dietetics, while younger sister Amanda Benjamin starts her journey this year as part of Marshall's largest freshmen class. The younger Benjamin will join her father sitting with Marshall's fan base at Thursday's game.
Benjamin's home tickets are being used by his brother. The justice holds the contest as having significant personal value and importance.
"It pits my background at Ohio State with my newfound relationship with Marshall," he said. Those new ties includes his role as parent and participant in Constitution Week at the Huntington campus.
Benjamin recalled his lacrosse days in describing Ohio Stadium, commonly known by many as The Horseshoe.
"It can be intimidating," he said. "When I walked into it, we were playing lacrosse so there was about 80,000 less people. There was a lot of echo."
The justice partially credits his love for Ohio State to the Peters. They were his neighbors growing up. Herman Peters was faculty advisor for legendary Buckeye coach Woody Hayes. Their neighborly relationship blossomed. Peters' family passed down two items that still decorate Benjamin's office in Charleston -- an OSU helmet from the 1968 national championship team and a cap worn by Hayes in the early 1970s. He brought both items to Huntington for a Tuesday visit at The Herald-Dispatch.
"They've become cherished mementos," he said.
Benjamin used clothes pins to hold together the cap's bill as it is tattered and falling apart. The helmet still bares battle scares of games past. Peters' widow passed down the helmet amid Benjamin's 2004 run for state Supreme Court.
"She goes, 'You're going to need this,'" he recalled of their conversation.
Benjamin goes to several home games each year, but this week's trip will be quick. He will depart Huntington Thursday afternoon following his daughter's class. They will return early Friday in time for her morning class, he said.
Missed in the quick trip will be some joys of game day in Columbus. Benjamin described it as "tradition". He remembers waking up in the 1960s to Buckeye music for game day Saturday mornings.
"It's a rabid support," he said. "It's a very good crowd usually. It's the crispness of the fall air. It's the marching band coming in a very regimented fashion."
