When 12-year-old Jamie Benson died due to complications from surgery to repair a congenital heart condition, it was the very definition of tragic irony.

You don’t have to watch a dozen bean brawl-themed episodes of “SportsCenter,” read volumes about a blue-chip National Football league draftee holding out for an extra gazillion bucks or survey the spectator stupidity at too many youth sporting events to recognize that Benson’s body harbored more heart than most of ours.

Jamie loved sports, adored his family and cherished life. Why would God remove someone with such a fighting spirit from a world rife with so many monuments to mediocrity? Those of us who have read the Good Book for most of our lives are still trying to sort that one out.

Our uncertain world lost Jamie Benson on Aug. 11, 2002, three days shy of his becoming a teenager.

“Jamie’s body had a mind of its own, had developed its own pace and way for almost 13 years,” said his mother, Jody, “and it was just too hard to change.”

The only semblance of good news in the entire equation is that thanks to Jamie’s inspiration of his family and friends, other children will walk in the most giant footsteps that a 65-pound body has ever left behind.

Beginning next Saturday, when the Auburn Suburban Little League Major Field is dedicated as Jamie Benson Field, youth sports in Auburn, Lisbon Falls and surrounding communities will stand as a testimony to the impact of an abbreviated but well-rounded life.

Before the end of spring, a sixth-grader at Fairview Elementary School will receive a service award in Jamie’s honor. A scholar-athlete from the seventh grade at Auburn Middle School will accept similar recognition.

Two towns over at Lisbon High School, the Jamie Benson Sports Scholarship Foundation — more about it later — will honor a Special Olympian.

Why Special Olympics? That passion was the influence of Jamie’s mother, who teaches special education students. Jamie volunteered at the State Track and Field Special Olympics in Orono each year, and don’t you dare believe he went kicking and screaming.

“They loved and trusted him,” said Jody Benson. “He became their friend for life.”

That life almost never happened.

Jamie Michael Benson was born in Brunswick in the summer of 1989 at an apparently healthy 8 pounds, 11 ounces, but with severe complications.

He spent the first week in the Neonatal Intensive Care unit at Maine Medical Center in Portland, where doctors gave him a 50 percent chance of surviving infancy. The diagnosis was filled with scary, intimidating language — Tetralogy of Fallot with absent pulmonary valve syndrome — but the bottom line was even more frightening. Most families met with that diagnosis lost their child by age 6.

Jamie, however, was born into an athletic, highly motivated family. In addition to his loving, supportive mom, Jamie’s father Jeff has served as athletic director at Lisbon, Gray-New Gloucester and Edward Little high schools and is a respected baseball umpire and basketball official, while big brother Josh won the Travis Roy Award as Maine’s outstanding senior hockey player in 2002.

At 14 months, Jamie traveled to Boston for a heart procedure. Surgeons placed a patch on his ventricular septal defect. He spent two weeks in the hospital, and again his chances of dying were equal to his hope of survival.

Doctors advised the family that Jamie eventually needed surgery to place a pulmonary valve in his heart. Because Jamie’s body compensated so well for the defect, his family was advised that surgery could wait until he grew bigger and stronger.

Even as Jamie’s parents were faithful in transporting him to a litany of heart catherizations, stress tests and other examinations throughout his growing up, they were equally dedicated to making certain he made it to baseball, soccer and hockey practice.

“Other than family and close friends, few people knew the seriousness of his heart condition,” Jody said. “We made the decision when he came home that first week that we were going to let him do whatever made him happy. We wanted him to be treated and looked upon as a normal kid. We never denied him that.”

Neither did Josh, who was six years older and always willing to test little brother’s mettle. Jody said that she often returned home to find Jamie outfitted in full hockey goalie regalia and Josh and his EL friends peppering him with slap shots.

Mom’s first instinct was a strong suggestion to take it easy on the kid, an order quickly vetoed by the Benson brethren.

“Josh would say, ‘It will toughen him up and make him a better player,'” said Jody. “Jamie would just smile and say, ‘I’m OK, Mom!'”

Toughness and bravery seemed to complete the package. Jamie was already an honor student in the classroom, a four-year all-star in baseball and a member of the Maine Select team in hockey. Surely it would have been easy to examine that evidence and surmise that a routine stress test as part of Jamie’s annual cardiology exam in June 2002 would be a breeze.

Those test results raised concerns with Jamie’s cardiologist, though. After consultation with a heart surgeon, the Bensons decided to proceed with the pulmonary valve placement before the beginning of the school year.

Jody said that her son was showing signs of stress in his daily routine, including fatigue, pale coloring and increased pulse. True to his form, Jamie didn’t share those details with anyone who would encourage him to listen to his body and take a break from sports. In fact, he negotiated the surgery date, Aug. 8, which enabled him to complete the end of baseball all-star season and spend a week at his grandparents’ camp with his best friend Ethan.

Although the portion of the surgery to place the valve went as planned, the electrical complications that began in Jamie’s heart prior to the operation continued during and after surgery.

He died three days later.

True to their son’s philosophy of life to “make each day count,” the Bensons are helping launch the scholarship foundation to give other local youths an opportunity to carry on Jamie’s lofty standards.

Joining Jody Benson on the board of directors are president David Grund of the law firm Berman and Simmons and three coaches and administrators with a connection to the Auburn school community: Wally LeBlanc, Marc Gousse and Jamie Belleau.

There are also four ad hoc committees for each sport — baseball, hockey, soccer and Special Olympics.

For more information about the scholarship fund or to make a donation, please contact the Jamie Benson Sports Scholarship Foundation, 80 Dawes Avenue, Auburn, Maine 04210. E-mail will reach the family at [email protected], and the phone number is 795-0556.

You’ll be honoring all that remains good in competitive sports, I assure you.

“Jamie was always a team player and demonstrated a constant work ethic in practices and games,” said his mother. “Jamie was compassionate with others and honest. Jamie had a genuine love and competitiveness for the sports he participated in.”

In other words, the kind of kid who derived just as much pleasure from watching other kids play sports as being the center of attention himself.

Even though he was oh-so-worthy of that attention.

Kalle Oakes is sports editor. He may be reached by e-mail at koakes