Bender Made Persistence Pay

The initial autopsy was inconclusive. Nothing else about Leon Bender ever has been.

Not his talent, not his tongue.

Not his significance in the snapshot that is Washington State football or in the bigger picture of intercollegiate athletics.

Not his devotion as a father and husband.

But for the time being, just how he died Saturday at the tragically young age of 22 will remain as much of a mystery as why he had to - one of life’s cruel tricks that makes faith seem foolish.

We do know that since childhood, Bender had been troubled by a condition that led to seizures - a condition which may or may not have been epilepsy. He took medication for it, though some of his teammates weren’t aware of it. He once suffered a seizure during a high school football practice in Santee, Calif., which “scared the hell out of me,” according to his prep coach, Doug Coffin.

The San Diego Union-Tribune, citing Coffin’s sources, reported that Bender apparently suffered a seizure in the shower of agent Terry Bolar’s home in Marietta, Ga., and fell, severely damaging his windpipe.

And on Sunday, Bolar’s agency, Parker and Associates, released a statement saying those close to Bender say the autopsy “rules out foul play, drugs or alcohol as factors.”

An 11 a.m. memorial service for family members and friends has been scheduled for today at Emmanuel Baptist Church in Pullman.

There is much to remember, though it’ll be hard to get past the glorious smile and laugh that carried Leon Bender through his days, and ours.

As a football player, he’ll be remembered for the mayhem he wreaked from WSU’s defensive line and from his regular pulpit in the interview room - a parlay that landed him a five-year, $3.5 million contract with the Oakland Raiders as their second-round pick in this year’s NFL draft.

What do Cougars fans treasure most - the vision of Bender stuffing UCLA’s Jermaine Lewis on fourth-and-goal at the 1-yard line in last year’s opener, or the echo of his postgame assessment that talented players “become soft” once they join the Bruins?

It was a remark that made UCLA coach Bob Toledo bristle - and then turn up the heat in his practices. The Bruins didn’t lose again in 1997, and Bender’s remarks became a real-life imitation of the old Charles Atlas ad - “The Insult That Made a Man out of Mac” - replete with the 97-pound weakling getting sand kicked in his face.

On the field, he was the archetypical grunt, clogging up the middle, occupying two or three offensive linemen, making maybe four tackles a game.

In front of a microphone or a notebook, he was a broken-field runner - regaling knots of reporters with irrepressible candor and wit.

No Cougar cared about winning more, or took losing in the Rose Bowl harder.

Best of all, he was grateful for the opportunity to do both.

In the end, however, his most significant contribution to Cougars football had nothing to do with a game-saving play or a juicy quote.

For just last month, Leon Bender graduated with a degree in sociology - a feat that once appeared as improbable as the Cougs ever getting back to Pasadena.

He came to WSU in 1993 academically unqualified and had to sit out his freshman year. In 1995, he was ineligible again, enrolled at a community college branch campus in Clarkston. Sometime in between, I was a guest speaker at a sports media class at WSU, and remember running into defensive coordinator Bill Doba at the door.

“You taking this class?” I teased.

“No, but Leon is,” Doba said, “and I’m here to make sure he’s here.”

When the baby-sitting didn’t work, marriage and fatherhood did. Whatever Leon lacked in motivation both academically and athletically, Liza and 2-year-old Imani Bender supplied.

“I told my wife when I got kicked out of school that I was going to come back to school and get drafted in the first round,” he said upon being drafted by the Raiders. “I was going to turn a lot of heads and I was going to get the last laugh.”

In other words, no surrender.

There is a touch of Boys Town in coach Mike Price’s football program, but there can be no greater endorsement of his penchant for giving second and third chances than Leon Bender - who on occasion would accept congratulations from Cougars fans and then offer his appreciation “for sticking with me.”

In the meantime, the Pacific-10 Conference has legislated there can only be one Leon - one academic non-qualifier - per year in any one sport at a member school, when it should be finding ways to open the door to four or five.

Tragic enough is a 22-year-old’s death just when his remarkable persistence has paid off, when he’s ready to realize his grandest dreams.

Even more tragic is the thought that the next Leon Bender might not get even the one chance.