Why Reggie Miller (and everyone else) loved Pacers PR director David Benner

INDIANAPOLIS -- Reggie Miller says there are two questions that he is frequently asked "in all of my travels" by casual fans.

One is whether he really hates Spike Lee -- the answer is "yes" he joked, though he and Lee are in a better place now. The other is about David Benner, the long-time Pacers public relations director who died last week after a long battle with cancer.

"The second question I get is, 'Who is that guy you're always, like, yelling at before games?'" Miller said Wednesday morning as a speaker at Benner's memorial service at the entry pavilion at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. "I'm like, 'Oh, that's David Benner. He's the PR director for the Pacers. But his real job, though, is to be my antagonist.' Their eyes get really big like, 'Antagonist? What do you mean?' and I'm like, 'Well, he's basically paid to say mean things to my face.' They're like, 'Oh my goodness. Really?'"

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It obviously wasn't in Benner's job description, but the pregame routine between the long-time Pacers public relations director and Hall-of-Fame shooting guard became famous. Cameras would always catch Benner getting as close as he could to the grill of the 6-7 Miller and heaping apparently relentless insults with Miller eventually pushing back by wagging his finger in Benner's face and returning fire.

Their interactions became famous, an integral part of the show at Pacers games. So at Benner's memorial service Wednesday, which was attended by hundreds, including current and former Pacers players and coaches, luminaries from around the NBA and even Governor Eric Holcomb, Miller had to tell the story of exactly what it was that the usually mild-mannered Benner was saying.

And of course he did it with a dramatic flourish.

"The beauty about this is he always started it with very small jabs, very little subtle things," Miller said of Benner. "He'd come up to me and say, 'So you feel like showing up tonight? I think that would be kinda nice.' I look at him like, 'Really?' He'd be like, 'Yeah, I see you're all warmed up and all. I mean, can you score some points in the first quarter, kinda get us off to a good start?' I'm like (gasp) 'David!'"

At which point, Miller said, Benner would dial it up a notch.

"He's like, 'You know what? Maybe I should call Cheryl. She's the real Miller everyone knows,'' Miller said, referring to his sister, an Olympic gold medalist and three-time Naismith Player of the Year at USC. "'No you didn't say that!' Then he saved the best for last, and he knew, he knew this was a thorn in my side. He said, 'You know what, if it was up to me, I would have drafted Steve Alford.' I'm like 'What!? Oh no you didn't Ben-wah.' That's where the finger came from. This is the brutal yet funny honesty on why I loved David Benner."

More:When Donnie Walsh picked Reggie Miller over Steve Alford, he became Indiana's villain

Benner's pregame banter with Miller was, of course, an act. A well-played bit in which he used his real talent for sarcasm, but also something like a professional wrestling alter-ego. The rest of the speakers at Benner's memorial service noted his kindness, his professionalism and his distaste for drama or for building himself up.

Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said he called up Hall-of-Famer Larry Bird on Tuesday night and asked him, "Do you have any dirt on Benner?" Carlisle was looking for something he could use for comic relief in his speech, and he figured Bird, who spent about 25 years after his playing career connected to the Pacers either as a coach, executive or advisor, would have something

All that Bird could remember, Carlisle said, was that Benner would frequently come to coaches after practice and ask, "Are you good? Are you squared away? Because I'm going to be unavailable for about an hour and five minutes?" Then he would disappear. And what happened, Carlisle said, is Benner would leave to go attend to his beloved dogs.

"In trying to dig up dirt on Benner, what you come up with a guy who has just exemplary kindness to animals," Carlisle said. "It's just hard to come up with anything on him."

The only speaker who had any such dirt on Benner was Jeff Flatt, one of his closest friends from Indiana University. They were two of a group of 10 friends who lived in Nichols House, a three-floor section of a dorm in Wright Quadrangle. They became close friends there, and Flatt remembers Benner being part of a prank in which speakers with a strobe light were lowered from Benner's room through an open window, blaring Pink Floyd's "Money," at the highest-possible decibel level, leaving Flatt and his roommate, who couldn't find his glasses, completely dumbfounded.

"After the initial shock of it wore off," Flatt said, "it was hilarious."

Flatt and Benner and the rest of the Nichols House crew have stayed extremely close, meeting every summer for a round of golf and sending each other heartfelt text messages around the holidays. Flatt said Benner somehow had a knack for getting hit in the head by golf balls at the golf events, and they bought him a hockey helmet that they asked him to wear to protect himself.

Otherwise, Benner was remembered Wednesday for his warmth and for his professionalism. Donnie Walsh, a long-time Pacers executive, called Benner one of the best hires he ever made. The Pacers announced a journalism scholarship in his name, and Tim Frank, the NBA's senior vice president of communications, announced that Benner had been awarded the Brian McIntyre Trophy as the 2023 Splaver/McHugh Tribute to Excellence Award Winner. That goes to a current or former member of the NBA public relations family who "has demonstrated an outstanding level of performance or service" throughout his career.

Former IndyStar Pacers beat writer Mike Wells, now a professor at Indiana University, gave a speech about the friendship they developed when Wells was on the beat, and Carlisle talked about ways that Benner made him believe more in himself. When he arrived as an assistant coach, Carlisle said Benner started calling him "Coach Carlisle." Carlisle said it would be OK if he just called him Rick, but Benner said he'd already heard that he could be a head coach someday, and that he should start thinking of himself that way.

"I just had such great admiration for the fact that he embodied everything that Indiana is about," Carlisle said. "Hard work. Family, team, giver. You get the job done and you do it with a smile."

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: David Benner: Why Reggie Miller (and everyone) loved Pacers PR director