Tom Benson seen here celebrating Super Bowl XLIV win in 2010 died Thursday. He was 90
Benson had a complicated relationship with the city over the years, however, and threatened to move the Saints to San Antonio after the team had been displaced there following Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
A fixture within the New Orleans sports community for the past several decades, New Orleans Pelicans and New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson has died at the age of 90.
Mr. Benson had been hospitalized with the flu at Ochsner Medical Center for about a month, but the team statement didn't directly state the cause of death. He is survived by his loving wife, Gayle Marie Benson.
Benson's plan was to turn the franchises over to his wife of the past 13 years, Gayle Benson, after he ousted his daughter and grandchildren as heirs during a bitter legal feud that lasted almost two years.
The Saints never had a winning season before Benson took over. Known among his peers in the NFL as an important leader, Benson's input on the league level was instrumental, serving as chairman of the league Finance Committee for three separate stints.
Benson, looking for a home run, hired Mike Ditka in January of 1997. The first was hiring Sean Payton as the team's head coach, and the second was signing Drew Brees as his starting quarterback. "Tom Benson started out as a bookkeeper at a New Orleans Chevy dealership and funneled his earnings into auto dealerships, local banks and sports teams", Forbes Magazine reports.
"Well, once he got moving, he didn't stop", former National Football League commissioner Paul Tagliabue said of Benson's turnaround. "So it's quite a remarkable story of success".
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Benson has owned the Saints since the 1980s.
He and his wife Gayle changed the name to the Pelicans, a moniker once carried by the city's former minor league baseball team. Since Mr. Benson took over the team the Saints have won six division titles, made four other playoff appearances and won Super Bowl XLIV in 2009. However, they are now thriving as a 5th-place seed in the Western Conference, led by one of the game's top players in Anthony Davis.
"When we had to leave town (after Hurricane Katrina in 2005) and everybody was concerned about what was going to happen to New Orleans, getting to come back brought us together", Benson said, according to the Advocate.
He and Gayle started GMB Racing, which produced two Kentucky Derby entrants in 2016. They also invested in local companies like Dixie Beer, and TV and film production companies.
The Bensons were also generous in their charitable efforts throughout New Orleans, the Gulf South region, San Antonio and the Catholic Church community, among others.
In November, 2014, Fawcett Stadium at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio was renamed "Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium" in recognition of a $11 million donation by the Foundation.
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