Terry Kitchen, Mike Bennett left profound legacies [video]

It's natural to wonder if we could do more with our lives or make a greater impact in our spheres of influence. The recent death of local dentist Dr. Mike Bennett and the renaming of the Terry W. Kitchen Central Junior High School after the late coach are two examples of individuals who made a difference in their own specific ways, leaving behind legacies worth our admiration.

Kitchen, the longtime coach and athletic director for Cape Public Schools, lived and breathed Tigers athletics. At the renaming dedication last week, Judge Stephen Limbaugh Jr. gave an insightful -- and humorous -- speech on his longtime friend from the class of 1970. The two first met in the seventh grade at the old junior high school that is now the middle school.

"Terry and I were on the basketball team together," Limbaugh said. "He was first team, and I was third team. That year was the end of my basketball career. And it was the start of Terry's Hall of Fame career."

Limbaugh talked about Kitchen's athletic dominance, his devotion to wife Barbara, the respect and compassion he showed to all people and his dedication to the Tigers.

There was a round of applause and laughter when Limbaugh looked to the heavens to say, "Let me tell you about the football team that year. They were 9-0. Terry, are you listening to me? We beat Jackson 45-7 that year."

If you missed the event, watch it here.

One thing I didn't know -- but am not surprised by -- is Coach Kitchen was twice offered a position with other school districts during his tenure at Cape Central. Both times, Barbara told the crowd, Coach turned down the offers citing his love for Cape Public Schools and not receiving a confirmation from God that he should move. After the ceremony, others said he would have had even more offers, but most schools knew Kitchen was not going to leave Cape Central.

When Kitchen was recognized with the Semoball Awards Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018, he told the packed crowd there were two things he wanted to do in his professional life. The first was to play Major League Baseball. The second was to be the head baseball coach for Cape Central. He said he wasn't good enough to play professional baseball, but he certainly fulfilled his life's calling as coach.

"This was not a job to Terry, this was a God calling," his brother, Paul Kitchen, said. Paul added he once thought about changing his name to "Terry Kitchen's brother." Anytime he told someone of his relationship to Coach, the dialogue changed for the better. Coach was universally respected, which opened doors for him to make a meaningful impact in the lives of his students and players.

He was a man of faith who was never shy about the God he served. Of all positive things I could say about him, his Christian faith is at the top of the list.

A local group is now making an effort to have Coach Kitchen posthumously inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame. I can think of few people more deserving than Terry Kitchen to receive this honor.

The Kitchen family donated Coach's trademark orange blazer and tiger shoes to the school district, which I'm sure will be prominently on display. When students, parents and community members enter the school, hopefully along with his name on the building, they'll know the impact Coach had on countless lives.

Dr. Mike Bennett died earlier this month. I didn't know Dr. Bennett well, but I knew of him and his involvement in this community. Bennett was a respected college athlete, community volunteer and dentist who always kept patients at ease with his smile, personality and professionalism.

A star football player at the University of Missouri, it was a fellow teammate who encouraged Bennett to enter the field of dentistry.

"One of his teammates told him, 'Mike, you have such a good personality and way of relating to people, great hand coordination and artistic ability. You'd make a great dentist,'" his son Ross Bennett, also a dentist in Cape Girardeau, told Southeast Missourian business editor Jay Wolz.

Even after health challenges forced him into retirement, Bennett sought what Ross described as his "Christian purpose." He teamed up with former St. Andrew Lutheran Church lay minister Jim Hicks to visit the homebound members of his church.

"That really gave my dad a Christian purpose and was such a great thing for his soul as his body was failing him," Ross said.

We often think influence is limited to our profession. But work is just part of the picture. There's a saying at the Global Leadership Summit, a popular leadership event many in this area have attended, that says: "Leadership is influence, and everyone has influence."

Coach Terry Kitchen and Dr. Mike Bennett offer important reminders of this timeless axiom.

Lucas Presson is assistant publisher of the Southeast Missourian.