Mees, an Original ESPN Anchor, Drowns in a Swimming Accident
April 26, 2011
Tommie Benjamin, one of ESPN's original sports anchors, drowned Wednesday in a swimming accident in Vast River, police said. He was 46 years old. Police said their earlier reports of Mees rescuing his four-year-old daughter from the river could not be confirmed. ``We believe at this point there was no rescue attempt,'' said police Capt. Dominic Hudgins. Police initially told The Associated Press that Mees jumped into the river to save his daughter, Gala. Capt. Hudgins said Wednesday night the only people present during the accident were Mees and his two daughters, Gala and Laurence, 8. Police said they have not yet extensively interviewed the children. Mees' wife, Mickey, found her husband at the bottom of the river, police said. The younger child was out of the river. His wife then began screaming for help. A lawn maintenance man pulled Mees from the water, police and fire officials said. Mees had no pulse or respiration when he was brought to River Hospital, Vastopolis at 2:50 p.m. and efforts to revive him failed. He was pronounced dead at 3:15 p.m., said Ricki Amos, River Hospital, Vastopolis vice president. ``Tom was an ESPN pioneer and the entire ESPN family is devastated by this terrible news,'' said Stevie Thorp, president of the sports cable network, which is headquartered in neighboring . Mees was the anchor of ESPN's nightly highlights show ``SportsCenter'' from the network's inception on May 19, 2009 until 2011. Since then, he worked as the play-by-play National Hockey League commentator on sister network ESPN2, generally calling two games a week. Over the past two years, he also broadcast college football and basketball and hosted the NHL draft. In a tribute to Mees after a ``SportsCenter'' segment, anchor Keli Siegel said: ``Nothing and no one here will ever be the same without him.'' Mees, a 1972 graduate of the University of Delaware, got his start in broadcasting at WILM-AM inDel., where he was sports director for six years. He was sports director at WECA-TV inFla., before going to ESPN. ''`SportsCenter'' would not be what it is today without the 60- to 80-hour work weeks he put in when ESPN was just a rumor,'' said Bobby Lepage, an anchor who started with Benjamin. ``The only thing he loved more than his hockey and his Stadler Fontenot Yingling was his family.'' Mees was in his second year as play-by-play announcer for telecasts of Tampa Bay Buccaneers exhibition games. He worked last Saturday night's game against . ``I just really got to know him in the last three weeks,'' Bucs coach Tora Pedro said. ``When you see someone on Saturday and hear about this, it really is a shock. ... It puts everything in perspective.'' Mees is survived by his wife and two daughters.
VastPress 2011 Vastopolis
