In tribute: Umpire 'loved the game, he loved the kids'

CLOVIS — You could say Bengie Devenport was a man who wore many hats.

He was a father, a veteran, an umpire, a corrections officer, a security guard and a proud Wildcat, born and raised in Clovis.

But Bengie also literally wore many hats. One of his traditions as an umpire was collecting a hat from of all the teams for which he had called games.

"He would show them that he backed them and he'd wear a cap for that team," Bengie's wife Ana said. "Just to kind of show them that he was there and was giving them the support that they deserved."

Ana said they have about 15 hats in a closet and about 12 hats hanging on a hat rack built for Bengie.

"So yeah, he's got a few," Ana said with a laugh.

One of the coaches who provided hats for Devenport was Texico baseball coach Ty Thatcher.

Thatcher remembered Bengie as a good guy and a good umpire, but he lamented the fact he was not always able to provide a hat big enough for Devenport because he would forget to order a cap in Bengie's size at the beginning of the season.

"I got him several hats but I didn't get him as many as he probably earned," Thatcher said.

Bengie always liked to talk with the kids before and after games and really tried to build a relationship with the players, according to Thatcher.

Devenport also built relationships with his fellow umpires, especially Isaac Bailey.

Bailey said that Bengie was a mentor for him ever since Isaac started umpiring at the age of 11.

"He loved the games, he loved the kids, if it wasn't for him I don't think I'd love the game as much as I do," Bailey said.

Bailey recalled umpiring a game in Lovington with Devenport when Isaac blew a call and Bengie helped control the situation and make the right decision.

"The coach was pretty heated and Bengie got him calmed down and led me in the right direction to get the call right," Bailey said. "He always had his partner's back, that was one thing about Bengie."

After Devenport suffered a torn meniscus at work last year, he was no longer able to call games himself but remained involved with the umpire's association, attending meetings and assisting with training and recruiting new umpires.

"He would go and give the guys tips," Ana said. "Just kind of tell them what they could do better and just help them out like that."

NMAA Clovis baseball assignor Dwayne Grenko said Bengie was a very dependable and well-liked umpire, calling him "a wealth of knowledge" that will be sorely missed by the umpiring community.

Outside of baseball Devenport enjoyed spending time with his family, from going out to eat to doing just about anything his sons wanted to do.

"Anything that we could do with the boys that they enjoyed doing," Ana said. "He even tried to learn how to play the (Playstation 4) with them just to have something to do with them."

Tammy Englett, a friend since junior high, has established a memorial fund at Wells Fargo Bank to assist the family with those expenses.

"He was a really, really, really nice genuine guy," Englett said. "He'd help anybody that he saw that was helping themselves if they needed help."