Mark Benedetto 1976

Brother Christopher, S.C.

Brother Rene, S.C.

Mark went to Lakewood Private School on Canal Blvd.

• The headmaster, M. L. Lagarde ('45), looked after Mark and showed him how to play basketball and flag football.

He was a great guy, very into kids, promoting them, teaching them about sports. He took me by the hand.

• Since his father Mike had been a Brother of the Sacred Heart for thirteen years, there was never any doubt that Mark would attend Brother Martin.

He came in the eighth grade but encountered difficulties in the classroom.

After a week or two, I was called to the Guidance Office. They wanted to know why I wasn't taking notes. "What is notes?" I asked. I had no formal training in taking notes. I relied on the teacher writing on the board and reading lips. Some teachers walked around, and I got lost.

When they realized what the problem was, I started learning to take notes from Brother Christopher and Brother Rene, two men who put me on the map.

• Already 5'10" and nearly 200 pounds, Mark loved football but couldn't play as an eighth-grader because he had to concentrate on his school work.
• He hadn't been able to participate in playground football either because he was too big. They didn't have a league for fat boys.

Football coaches Bob Conlin and Chubby Marks already had their eye on him.

• Mark started playing as a freshman.

Coach Marks was like a Brother of the Sacred Heart, with his heart out for the kid. He worked me, trained me, gave me the foundation for football.

• He first played offensive guard, but his hearing problem necessitated a change.

I was the last guy to move. I watched for the snap but by the time I turned my head back, my man was gone.

• Moved to defense, Mark earned a promotion from the JV to the varsity near the end of his first year and played against Holy Cross and St. Augustine.
• He started at DT the next three years, growing to 6'1" 245 pounds, which was large for linemen in the 1970s.
• Mark also wrestled for three years at a time when the Heavyweight Division was unlimited. As a junior, he was a member of the first Crusader team to finish with a winning record in dual meets. Then, as a senior co-captain for Ray Charbonneau, he contributed to a third place state finish.

Colleges began to take notice his junior year.

• Vic Eumont, an assistant at Tulane who had taught Mark eighth grade Louisiana History, pushed the hardest.
• LSU, Mississippi State, and Southwestern Louisiana (now Louisiana Lafayette) also showed interest.
• He chose Tulane because it was the best fit for someone with his disability.

I can cope a lot better in smaller classes. Tulane was like Brother Martin - 20 to 25 in most classes. Plus I had a beautiful girl friend who turned out to be my wife. I didn't want to lose her.

1977 Brother Martin Wrestling Team

Ben Benedetto

D. J. and Mark Benedetto

 

• Mark played in seven games for the Green Wave freshman team, which allowed him to adjust to the college level in both football and academics.
• Head Coach Larry Smith stressed local recruiting. So the squad had numerous Catholic league grads that Mark competed against in high school as well as other Brother Martin players like Harold Villere, Chris Doyle, and Andre Robert.
• Mark started playing regularly as a junior and lettered two years.
• He graduated from Tulane with a B.S. in Physical Education with a minor in History.

Having set his sights on coaching, Mark went to work for the Jefferson Parish Public Schools right out of college.

• He coached and taught at Bonnabel for three and a half years but got discouraged with the problems the school faced in the early years of integration.
• So he accepted an offer from an old friend to join his company. While working in sales, Mark coached at playgrounds, which brought him joy.

After thirteen years in private business, he reapplied to Jefferson Parish.

• He became an itinerant P.E. teacher at different elementary schools and a member of the East Jefferson football staff under Henry Rando (SA '61).
• Mark coached the D line and the linebackers.

A 2000 phone call started the ball rolling toward a return to his alma mater.

• Head coach Mark Songy inquired about his interest in coaching at Brother Martin. When Songy hired someone else to coach the D line, he promised, Give me a year. I'll get you on board. True to his word, he brought Mark into the fold in 2001.
• Mark has spent the last eleven years giving back to the school he loves so much.
• He coached football for seven years and also assisted with wrestling for Kenny Spellman, Joe Corso, and Matt Lambert. He also helped with the inaugural 7th grade football team in 2010.

He particularly enjoyed the years his two sons attended Brother Martin.

• Benjamin ('06) played football and walked on as a freshman at Ole Miss before receiving an academic scholarship as a sophomore. Building himself up to the same size that his father had been in high school, Ben played fullback, which shows the growth in size of players since Mark's day when 245 pounders played defensive line.
• Daniel Joseph ('08) started as a ball boy for the football team when his dad first came back to Brother Martin. Then D. J. played football and baseball and followed his brother to Oxford where he was a trainer and coaches' assistant for two years.
• Both sons graduated with degrees in Geological Engineering. Ben is married, and D. J. is engaged.