Hall of Fame
Pat Benic ’70 concluded his wrestling career as one of the most successful student-athletes in school history. Benic is one of only 15 wrestlers in W&J history to claim three Presidents’ Athletic Conference individual championships.
As a freshman, Benic competed in the 137-pound weight class and claimed his first PAC title after an 8-2 regular-season record. He joined his brother Tom (123 pounds), Jack Phelan (152) and Al Lindsay (177) as conference individual champions as W&J (77 team points) as edged out by one point by John Carroll (78) for the team title.
One year later, Benic was the Presidents’ lone PAC champion, once again in the 137-pound class. He owned a 6-2 record in the regular season, including a 3-1 mark in PAC matches.
Benic made it a third-straight championship in 1969 and once again helped W&J place second at the PAC team tournament. He wrestled at the 142-pound class as a senior and posted a 7-3 overall record. Benic is currently the Director of Photography at United Press International (UPI). He also worked as Reuters Chief Photographer in London and Hong Kong.
After graduating from W&J, Benic spent two years in Europe. When he returned he started working as a photojournalist for the Canonsburg, Pa. newspaper, and was assigned to cover the Yablonski murder trial. During the multi-day trial, no photographers from UPI or AP were present one day, so Benic was called for photos.
These were his first photos to be published in Times and Newsweek. Since then, he has been to approximately 13 Olympics, numerous athletic championships, flown on Air Force One and photographed various presidential events. Pat’s brother, Tom ’67, was inducted into the W&J Athletic Hall of Fame in 2013.
