Benjamin Colton  Date of Death: March xx, 2008 Services:   Visitation will be Monday, March 24, from 9-11 a.m. at the Funeral Home.  A service at 11 a.m. will be followed by burial at Rose Hill Cemetery. Visitation: Benjamin Colton, a Mt. Vernon tennis champion and familiar figure at area tennis courts for more than 60 years, died Friday after a battle with kidney and heart ailments. He was 91.    As an opponent, partner or teacher, Colton was an on-court mentor to hundreds of Westchester players young and old.  Many remember his graceful strokes, simple advice -- "keep the wrist firm'' -- and precision in returns of serve.  He perfected a two-handed backhand decades before it was fashionable, and despite a thin frame and unassuming look won numerous titles in singles, doubles and mixed doubles.    He won the Mt. Vernon Singles Championship in 1941, and repeated the feat two decades later in 1961, defeating former NBA player Worthy Patterson for the city crown. That began a string of success that landed him more than 200 trophies, including a Mt. Vernon doubles title at age 65.     Colton played in the USTA (now the U.S. Open), 35-and-over championships five times. Actively playing into his 80s, Colton won the New York State Clay Indoor Seniors Championship in 1986.    "One of the smartest players I've ever played against,'' said national doubles champion Ed Tarangioli that year. "He always picks out the right shot and keeps you guessing.''    Colton's athletic career dated back to the 1930s, where he was a star basketball player for Rhinebeck High School in the Hudson Valley.    He scored 25 points in one game in 1936, prompting an opposing coach to say, ''He couldn't miss today. The only way we could have stopped him was by cutting off his arms, and even then I'd imagine he'd have scored a couple of points somehow.''    In 1966, Colton was inducted into the Dutchess County High School Basketball Hall of Fame.    A veteran of World War II campaigns in North Africa, Sicily, France and Germany, Colton settled in Mt. Vernon after the war and married Mary DiGregorio.  He ran a window cleaning business before becoming a full-time tennis pro. One of his sons, Richard, became a star player himself, teaming with his father to win the Mt. Vernon Doubles Championship, and defeating his father for the city singles crown in 1979.    Colton also played in exhibitions with tennis greats Don Budge, Billy Talbert and Gardner Mulloy, and matches with Dave DeBusschere of the New York Knicks and Art Carney.    He was a pro at the Colonial Heights Tennis Club in Yonkers, New York Tennis Club in the Bronx and at Memorial Field's clay courts in Mt. Vernon, where Mayor Ronald Blackwood gave him a lifetime permit in 1995 in honor of his service to the city.    In 2002, Mayor Ernest Davis honored Colton for his "special contributions to the sport of tennis.''    One of 10 children of Hyman and Leah Colton, he was born on April 15, 1916, in Rhinebeck. He is survived by his brother, Henry, sons David and Richard, grand-daughter Tara, and his devoted daughter-in-law, Eileen. His loving wife, Mary, died last year.    Visitation will be Monday, March 24, from 9-11 a.m. at the Funeral Home.  A service at 11 a.m. will be followed by burial at Rose Hill Cemetery.    Contributions in Ben Colton's name can be made to the New York Junior Tennis League, a non-profit program dedicated to changing young lives through tennis. (Donors can go to Justgive.org and type in the program's name for details). Sign Guestbook and Send Condolences/Message to Family