Nils Bengtsson, 91, gymnastics teacher

Nils ``Benson'' was a very modest man, so private about his personal life that even many of his close friends didn't know his last name really was Bengtsson.

But he also was known for his outgoing nature over the past half-century as he trained hundreds of Northern California youths in gymnastics. In the process, he also showed them how to become responsible adults.

Early in his career he volunteered his ideas with other coaches for the benefit of the sport. To support himself, he was employed at the Mercury News for 31 years ending in 1995, working in the ad composition department.

Other coaches praised the professionalism and sportsmanship of their Danish comrade, who trained such champs as Tom Weeden and Roy Palossou.

``He had no peer,'' said Roy Davis, a colleague of Mr. Bengtsson's and a gymnast who studied in the early 1960s under the renowned Hal Frey at the University of California-Berkeley. ``We shared gym camp, judging, the Berkeley Y, the Santa Clara Youth gym program and other gymnastics experiences.''

Davis' e-mail was one of many sent Larry Lermo, who sent out the first notifications that Mr. Bengtsson died at 91 on Sept. 26, 10 days after a fall in his apartment. San Jose police, answering a request for a welfare check of the elderly man, found him three days after he fell. He lived alone, read constantly and expressed his love of art by painting.

Frey, in his e-mail, said, ``I knew him well and had great respect for him as a coach and teacher. He gave so much to a wonderful sport.''

Dave Peterson, who with his wife owns the California Sports Center chain that has its main office in San Jose, is going through Mr. Bengtsson's papers, many of them in Danish, as part of his preparation for a proposed celebration of his friend's life at a gymnastics meet next spring, although Mr. Bengtsson wanted no services.

``He had a marvelous personality and was the consummate gentleman. A great storyteller about coaches and athletes all over the world,'' said Peterson. ``He was humble, giving and sharing.''

Nils Bengtsson came to the United States at the end of World War II. An acrobat and gymnast in his native Denmark, where he also taught those specialties, he planned on continuing his coaching career in America. He came to Northern California and collaborated with Frey and former Cal coach Chuck Kenny in developing the longest running outdoor sports training camp in the nation, Peterson said. It started out as Camp Gualala, named after a nearby Mendocino County town, and was moved years ago to Scotts Valley to get away from the rainy summer weather. The move accompanied a name change to Norcal Camp.

His first formal coaching job in the United States was at then-Chico State College in 1964. Mr. Bengtsson then coached at the Santa Clara Valley Gymnastics Club and traveled to competitions worldwide with his students.

Mr. Bengtsson left the Santa Clara Gymnastics Club to found his own business in San Jose. His West Coast Academy of Gymnastics filled 12,000 square feet on Parkmoor Avenue where a supermarket and other businesses are now located.

In 1987, his academy became the California Gymnastics Center, and when he retired a year later became the California Sports Center, where he trained boys and girls with Peterson.

Bill Foster of Houston North Gymnastics in Houston proposed in his e-mail that he and other coaches ask national gymnastics leaders to honor Mr. Bengtsson with an award in his name for gymnasts.

Not all the youths who studied with Mr. Bengtsson became champions or gymnastic coaches. Stewart Domeier, who called himself in his e-mail a `` former Gym-rat of Nils,'' said the trainer had a profound effect on his life when he was an argumentative teen. ``Had I not been exposed to Nils in those crucial years, my direction in life might very well have turned out catastrophic.''

The modest Mr. Bengtsson would have blushed with pride to read that.

Nils M. Bengtsson

Born: Aug. 7, 1914, in Denmark.

Died: Sept. 26, 2005, in San Jose.

Survived by: Many friends. No known family in the United States, although there may be some nieces and nephews in Denmark from his late siblings.

Services: A celebration of Mr. Bengtsson's life is planned for March 15-16, 2006, in Santa Cruz during the U.S. state gymnastics championship. Anyone with stories about Mr. Bengtsson's life and career is asked to call Dave Peterson at the California Sports Center, (408) 269-5437.

Contact Betty Barnacle at bbarnacle@mercury news.com or (408) 920-5321