WINONA LAKE – Indiana high school and college basketball legend Kent Benson encouraged students at Lakeland Christian Academy to receive, then develop and return the gifts of talent they’ve received from God. Benson addressed the students at LCA in an assembly Thursday afternoon at the school. “What I am is God’s gift to me. What I make myself is my gift to God. I want you to hear what I’m saying, because what you are is God’s gift to you, and what you make yourself is your gift to God,” he said. Benson spoke for about 25 minutes, encouraging students to pursue excellence and giving them his five “D’s” as tools for the pursuit: desire, determination, dedication, discipline and direction. Benson also took questions after his presentation, and the first query was about his relationship as a Christian with Bob Knight, his head coach at Indiana University. He answered that as a sophomore, he was president of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes chapter on campus, and he was encouraged by Knight to give the position up to more fully concentrate on basketball. “I stayed on as president through my junior year, and I stayed on through my senior year,” he said to applause. “I think (Knight) just wanted to know if I would really stand up for what I said I believed in. Because outside of that one conversation, the subject never came up again.” He was also asked who was the toughest player he ever played against. After a few moments of thought, he said ‘it was probably Moses Malone. Playing against him was like playing against an octopus: he was big and it seemed like he had arms all over the place.”
