The Illinois Anchorman
I don’t know Dave Benton. Most people have no idea who he is. In fact, unless you are a frequent viewer of a small TV news station in central Illinois, you probably have never even heard that name before.
Dave Benton is an anchorman for Champaign, Illinois’ WCIA-TV news station. Most broadcasters are usually the ones delivering the news, not making it. Dave, however, is the subject of many national headlines after making an announcement on Sept. 12 in front of his co-anchor and countless people watching at home.
That day, live on the air, Dave told his viewers that his brain cancer had returned, and this time it was terminal. Doctors had told him that the tumor in his brain had grown too large for surgery and radiation. He was given four to six months to live.
As a broadcast student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and an aspiring television personality, this news hits very close to home and truly saddens me to hear. But if you watched the video of Dave making the announcement, you wouldn’t know this was a man who had just received a death sentence from cancer. He’s calm, cool, collected – to the average viewer, maybe even almost a bit too conversational for the grave announcement he makes. In fact, Dave even cracks a few smiles with his co-anchor and says he is “at peace” while telling the entire world his fate. He doesn’t cry, but I’m willing to bet there wasn’t a dry eye in the room after the cameras stopped rolling.
I don’t know Dave Benton. But I do know that his bravery is enough to inspire strength in so many who have been affected in one way or another by this horrible disease. In these frightening times, I am thinking of Dave and his family as he celebrates his ninth anniversary delivering the news to viewers in Champaign. Here’s to many more years ahead, Dave.