06/21/05 By Tim Newsome
Benny Newsome was born in August of 1991. He was six weeks premature and doctors had a lot of concerns about his health before he was born. He came through with flying colors. He was always a happy baby and that carried over into childhood.
Benny was a loving, caring, compassionate person who always had a smile on his face. He always had a kind word to say. People of all ages loved to be around Benny. He always made you smile.
The phone would ring 20 times a day and 19 of them would be for Ben. People just wanted to be around him. Whether it was to play basketball in the back of the house, walk to Dominick’s, swim or hot tub or to just walk around the neighborhood and hang out. Everyone loved to be by Benny.
One time a parent called to say how much they liked Benny and the way he behaved. The mom asked if it was OK if her son could come over and hang out with Benny and help to be a good influence on him. I told him about it and he said he would “take the boy under his wing” and make sure he stayed out of trouble. That’s the kind of kid he was.
There were always a ton of kids at our house, boys and girls. Benny’s little 7 year old sister Abby would want to hang out with the big kids. Benny would always let her. We would ask if he wanted us to give him a break from Abby being with the big kids and he would always say “No don’t worry about it, she’s OK, she’s not bothering us”. She would sit on her swing and watch the big kids play basketball just to be close to her big brother. If she wanted to take a shot, he’d always let her until she made at least one (even if it was aggravating because it took a lot of shots to make one). If he was playing a video game, she would sit on the couch and watch, just to be near him. He never ever complained that she was bugging him. When she was little he would lay with her and help her go to sleep. A lot of times he would fall asleep next to her. She always wanted to know where he was and when would Benny be home.
Benny’s older brothers, Brett and Tyler loved him just as much. (see following from them).
Another cool thing about Benny was his many nicknames; “Jamin’”, “Ozzie”, “OZ”, “Benihana”, “Foof” (there was a song “Little Benny Foo Foo” we sang to him when he was little), “Monk” (short for monkey; the boys teased him saying he had razor-sharp monkey teeth) just to name a few.
Benny was also a terrific athlete. He was not that big but was strong (had a great, lean muscular body with one of the all-time best “bubble butts”) and he was fast as lightning. Mr. Jonas, Marist H.S., varsity baseball coach, saw him recently in the Marist Tournament and told me Benny was the most exciting player he’d ever seen at that level. He played baseball for the 13 year old, Rip City traveling baseball team, basketball for Hoopla (coach Ed Stearns loved the way he and his own son would dive all over the floor for every loose ball), played volleyball, basketball and ran track for Independence Jr. High. He was so proud that he led his 7th grade, Independence basketball team to an undefeated season in which he led the conference in scoring. We used to tease him that he never met a shot he didn’t like.
His first love however was baseball. He loved the Red Sox; yeah maybe he was a bit of a front-runner on this one. He and his Uncle Don (a Yankee fan) had a bet on last year’s American League Championship Series. When the Red Sox won Ben got a Red Sox hat from Uncle Don that he wore everywhere he went. Yes, that includes him sleeping with it on (I kept telling him to take it off while he slept or he’d be bald like me; he didn’t care). There was nothing like watching Ben on the field of play. He wasn’t always the best player but he always was the hardest working player out there.
It was a privilege to coach him and to be his Dad. The efforts he put forth in everything he did made Deb and I the proudest parents in the world. He was truly one of a kind. Our family will miss him more than words can ever describe. Please always remember Benny and how he made this world a better place.
06/23/05 By:Brett Newsome (writing on behalf of Brett and Tyler)
Benny Newsome was the model little brother. He never had a bad thing to say about anyone he met. Being able to live with him everyday of his life was a privilege for me and Tyler. Being the youngest boy in the family he was always trying to prove that age didn't matter. He would ask us to do push-up contests against him (he always won), throw as hard as we could to him in the batting cage, and even race him with his skinny little legs (he usually won those races too). Benny was well respected not only with his peers but with our friends as well. I do not believe that someone could ever had a bad experience or memory about my little brother. On the baseball field he was the first one on the field and the last one to leave. He would always have the dirtiest jersey and made sure that when he got home he would tell his big bros how well he did. When I was in Missouri at school, Tyler would tell me stories about Benny and him hitting in the garage and how he was always striving to get better. Sometimes Tyler would have to encourage him to get in the garage but whenever he stepped inside it, he was all business until Ty messed with him about how bad of a soft tosser he was. Tyler and I are so proud to be able to say he is our brother. Benny will NEVER EVER be forgotten for how much he affected our lives and those who looked up to him as much as we did.
Tim and the family will continue to update this section which is work in progress.