Hospital visits, fundraising lunches, meeting with first responders — before Maryland Senator Barbara Mikulski hits the road, her logistical coordinator, Benson Erwin, plans travel routes, security details, and entrance and exit points. He’s part of a team, playing a key, yet unsung, role.
It is not unlike the lacrosse field, where Erwin, who plays defensive midfielder for the Denver Outlaws, rarely gets noticed, scooping up ground balls and step sliding in front of hard-charging ballcarriers.
“I’ve said it millions of times,” he said, “I think my best games are when I fly under the radar.”
The third-year Outlaws seek their first Major League Lacrosse title, but step one is slowing the Los Angeles transition game Saturday in the semifinals.
Among the L.A. players Erwin will cover is his best friend, Kyle Harrison.
They hit it off in the third grade, teamed at Baltimore’s Friends School and were roommates at Johns Hopkins, where Erwin stepped out of Harrison’s shadow to score the game-winning goal against Virginia in overtime of the 2005 NCAA semifinals.
It was only the seventh goal of a four-year career in which the Blue Jays went 55-6. That Johns Hopkins team, which included Outlaws defenseman Tom Garvey and goaltender Jesse Schwartzman, went on to win the national title.
Erwin graduated with a degree in international relations and started working for Mikul-ski in 2006.
“My success, on and off the field, is due to preparation,” the 2008 all-star said. “I get what I put into it. On the field, I stress the details, which is really no different to what I do off the field.”
Said Garvey: “He’s one of the hardest workers in MLL. He works long days in Washington, and then he works out.”
In addition to lifting weights with a shoulder that has undergone two surgeries, Erwin returns to Homewood Field at Hopkins to work on stick skills, mixed with cardio.
Alone in the stadium, he will push through sets of 17 30-yard sprints, then pick up ground balls.
“It might look weird out there, me getting ground balls all by myself, but that’s the most important part of the game,” said Erwin, who leads Denver midfielders with 28 ground balls.
Coach Brian Reese praises Erwin’s approach.
“He doesn’t say much and he doesn’t make too many mistakes,” Reese said.
Regardless of the outcome in Boston, Erwin will return to Denver next week for the Democratic National Convention.
“Being a player with the Outlaws, I have a great affinity for the city and am extremely excited for the opportunity to participate and be around such a historic moment in this nation’s history,” Erwin said.
If it comes on the heels of an Outlaws’ MLL championship, all the better.
Benson Erwin bio
Position: Defensive midfielder
Age: 26
Highlights: 2008 all-star; won 2005 NCAA title at Johns Hopkins; third season with Denver Outlaws; raised in Baltimore
Day job: Logistics coordinator for Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md.
Future career: FBI or CIA
Theresa Smith, Special to The Denver Post
