This is the second in a series of articles profiling the 2020 Butler County Sports Hall of Fame inductees.BRADENTON, Fla. — He threw his arm out — and his umpiring career kicked in.Longtime Butler resident John “Jake” Benton umpired county area baseball and softball for the better part of five decades.“I used to travel around with him when I was a kid, up until I was 18 or so,” said Charles Benton, his son. “He absolutely loved it. He just loved baseball.“Dad took me along to watch, but if the other umpire didn't show up, I'd work the bases and he would do the plate. Those were great memories.”Benton said his father's umpiring travels took him to Lyndora, Evans City, Zelienople, Harmony, Natrona Heights and all around Pittsburgh.“He worked so many leagues ... Little League, Church League, Eagle County, Butler Prep, Pittsburgh Federation, he went everywhere,” Benton said of his father. “If somebody needed an umpire, he was there.”He umpired games into his low 70's.Now Jake Benton — who died approximately 20 years ago at age 85 — is finding his way into the Butler County Sports Hall of Fame. He will be inducted at the organization's annual banquet at 6 p.m. April 25 at the Butler Days Inn.“I love it,” his son said of the induction. “He dedicated so much time. He did it all.”Benton spent 57 years in baseball as a player and umpire. He used to pitch for the Kohler AC team in the Industrial League. He was quoted in an article appearing in a May, 1979 edition of the Butler Eagle as saying “we played on Hansen Avenue, where the West Penn building now stands, and it was common to see between 2 and 4,000 fans at the games.”In the middle 1920s, Benton pitched for Pullman Standard — he was employed as an engineer there — and his brother Chuck was his catcher. Chuck Benton is a county Hall of Fame member.Once Benton threw his arm out, he said in the article: “I stuck around for a year or so and played second base, but I really didn't care for it.”The Industrial League needed umpires, so Jake Benton filled the need.“With all the leagues he worked, he definitely umpired more than 100 games a year,” Charles Benton said. “He didn't have many free days ... after church on Sundays, that was about it.”He worked fastpitch softball league games as well.Benton even worked the Homestead Gray games of the old Negro League.“Dad used to always tell me to come to those games if I wanted to see some really good baseball,” Charles Benton said. “And he was right.“I was on the field one day watching the Grays warm up before a game and I got hit in the stomach with a ball. I went down ... and remember waking up in the Grays' locker room. There were a bunch of players around me encouraging me to get up. I guess I had the wind knocked out of me.”When his son Bernard moved to Bradenton, Fla., Benton spent winters down there. He wound up working at Pittsburgh Pirate spring training games.“He was a member of the boosters down there,” his grandson, Vincent Benton, said. “He did whatever the Pirates wanted him to do.“He passed out pamphlets, sold tickets, worked the press gate, whatever.”Bemton's love for baseball has passed through generations. His son played the game, along with his grandson and great-grandson.“We all liked baseball,” Vincent Benton said. “(Jake) going into the Hall of Fame is amazing. I think it's fantastic.”Tickets for the Hall of Fame banquet are $30 in advance, $35 at the door. Tables of eight are $200. Tickets are available at Parker's Appliance in Chicora, Moses Jewelers at the Clearview Mall, The Butler Radio Network in Butler and Saxonburg Drug.