Editing Johnny Bench (section)

==Early life==
Born and raised in [[Oklahoma]], Bench is one-eighth [[Choctaw]]; he played baseball and [[basketball]] and was class [[valedictorian]] at Binger-Oney High School {{nowrap|in [[Binger, Oklahoma|Binger]].<ref>{{cite news | url=http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1082237/2/index.htm | work=CNN | title=Video | date=March 31, 1969 | access-date=August 5, 2010 | archive-date=November 2, 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121102222424/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1082237/2/index.htm | url-status=dead }}</ref>}} His father told him that the fastest route to becoming a major leaguer was as a catcher.