Into the Hall: George Von Benko
When the Fayette County Sports Hall of Fame is mentioned a wealth of outstanding area athletes likely comes to mind.
There is another name that will always be intertwined with the Hall of Fame.
That name is George Von Benko.
After helping to make his dream of a local hall of fame come true and seeing droves of deserving sports figures being inducted, Von Benko himself has been chosen as a member of the Class of 2024.
It seems only fitting that Hall of Fame Executive Chair/Co-Founder Von Benko, the man most responsible for the many Fayette County athletes who have had the Hall of Fame honor bestowed upon them, is also inducted into that organization.
Hall of Fame Board Chairman Chris Cluss certainly felt so.
“What success we’ve had is based on George’s legacy and what he’s done,” Cluss said. “He’s the founder and he’s done yeoman’s work. He’s worked tirelessly to make the thing a success. A majority of the information comes from George. He’s a wealth of knowledge when it comes to things almost no one else knows. He has a lot of good connections in the sports world.”
Cluss also cited Von Benko’s weekly “Memory Lane” feature that appears in the Herald-Standard and puts the spotlight on local sports greats.
“It was prefaced on George’s ‘Memory Lane’ stories that have appeared in the Herald-Standard for years,” Cluss said. “It’s a popular thing and gives you an idea of how many outstanding athletes have come through here.”
Cluss noted there had been a recent push for Von Benko to be inducted.
“For the last couple years with the nominations and letters, we’ve got a lot of, ‘Hey, when is George going in?’ We never had him on the ballot, but we had a considerable amount of input from the membership on George and this year we felt it’s time to recognize him for what he’s done, being the main guy behind the Hall of Fame,” Cluss said.
“So the board unanimously decided to make him a part of this year’s class.”
Von Benko discussed his impending induction while being interviewed by WMBS general manager Brian Mroziak on Von Benko’s own Sports Line Talk Show recently.
“It is truly an honor. I’m very humbled by it,” Von Benko said. “I was surprised but deeply honored.”
Von Benko discussed the evolution of the Fayette County Sports Hall of Fame.
“My friend Jes Hutson, who was the co-founder of the Hall of Fame, had been bugging me about doing something in the summer to honor our great athletes,” Von Benko recalled. “He wanted to have a dinner and honor one or two people. He caught me in the parking lot leaving here one Saturday, and he said, ‘You’ve been avoiding me. What’s going on?’ I said, ‘Well Jes, I’ve got a different vision. I have a different idea. All these other counties around us have a hall of fame and I’ve always wondered why we didn’t.’
“Well, I started researching it and they had tried to start it twice in the past. One of the guys who was really pushing it was the late James ‘Lash’ Nesser, the old coach at St. John’s and Uniontown. But it never got off the ground. I said, ‘That is my idea. I want to start a sports hall of fame.’
“Jes and I went to Chris Cluss and a bunch of other people in town, some old coaches, and that’s how the Hall of Fame started.”
Inductees and representatives for the Class of 2024 will be recognized through the Herald-Standard, Von Benko’s Sports Line Talk Show on WMBS Radio and the Fayette County Sports Hall of Fame web page and Facebook page.
Von Benko is a Laurel Highlands graduate who couldn’t crack the Mustangs’ talented boys basketball roster under coach Harold “Horse” Taylor, so he decided to get involved in a different way as a 15-year-old.
“I was always friends with all the athletes. We had so many players at that time that I couldn’t make that team,” Von Benko said. “But the guys wanted me to be a part of everything so they talked me into being the manager, and Horse let me do all of the scouting notes, stats and everything else like that.
“But he knew that I wanted to get into radio. I told my dad when I was 5 years old that I wanted to get into radio and do play-by-play. I used to practice on an old tape recorder with the television sound turned down.
“Horse went to the radio station at that time that was doing Laurel Highlands, WPQR, the FM station. He talked Ed Olesh, the general manager, into using me on the broadcast. I started doing color. Then one game … the guy doing the play-by-play showed up inebriated. He could not do the game. So young George Von Benko was thrust into doing the play-by-play and that was the beginning of it all.”
Von Benko, whose education background includes the School of Journalism at both Penn State and West Virginia, saw his career take off after that and has become a rarity among media members.
“In my career I’m the only guy who I know of — and Bill Hilgrove said the same thing – that at one time worked for Penn State, Pitt, Duquesne and West Virginia,” Von Benko said with a chuckle.
Von Benko’s first professional job also came at WPQR-FM.
“I started doing a sports show, and they had a cable television outlet so I did a show on television, too,” Von Benko said. “I interviewed the local high school coaches and college coaches. From there I went to WLSW, which was in Scottdale. I was the morning guy. I did a sports talk show there and did all sorts of interviews.”
Bigger and better opportunities arose for Von Benko.
“A job opened up in Morgantown, West Virginia, WAJR, which was the flagship station for the Mountaineers,” Von Benko said. “I applied for a news job. Well, the guy started looking at my background and said, ‘Can you do sports?’ I said I love sports. The next thing you know I was hired as sports director at WAJR/WVAQ. That’s what started my career at West Virginia. I was there for several years, then left for WTAE in Pittsburgh.”
Von Benko was part of a night trio that included Myron Cope and Stan Savran at WTAE.
“I did the pre- and post-game shows for the Steelers with Jack Fleming and Myron Cope,” Von Benko said. “I was there for a little bit then left there after I was let go, which happens in radio. Myron used to tell me all the time, ‘You’re not in the business unless you’ve been fired,’ which is the way radio is.”
Von Benko just moved on to another Pittsburgh network.
“I hooked on with Cox Interactive Media, which was part of WIIC, Channel 11 in Pittsburgh (now WPXI),” Von Benko said. “That was their Internet thing. We had a sports page and everything on there.”
Von Benko eventually moved on to work for the University of Cincinnati.
“Bob Goin, who was with me at West Virginia, was athletic director at Cincinnati,” Von Benko pointed out. “Their play-by-play guy, Paul Keels, left and went to Ohio State. They called and said, ‘Would you be interested in coming and doing the Bearcats?’ Of course I had the backing of Bob Huggins (the Bearcats men’s basketball head coach at that time) who was my friend since college (at WVU), so I went to Cincinnati.
“I did the Bearcats for a couple years, including a year they should’ve won the national championship when Kenyon Martin got hurt in a meaningless Conference USA game. They would’ve won the championship that year.”
Von Benko also has broadcast Pitt women’s basketball, volleyball, swimming and wrestling and Duquesne basketball and worked for WJAS, Prime Sports Network (as Pirates baseball “Talkin’ Bucs” guest host) and Fox Sports Radio in Pittsburgh as a college basketball analyst. He’s written for the Louisville Sports Reporter and MLB.com.
Von Benko’s professional path finally led him to WMBS in Uniontown.
“I was doing a show on a station that’s no longer around, the one in Brownsville, WASP,” Von Benko explained. “I had a pretty successful show there. That station closed up and I was looking for another talk show gig and fate brought us (he and Mroziak) together. And the rest is history I guess.”
Von Benko’s talk show has aired Saturday on WMBS from 10 a.m. to noon since 2005.
The Class of 2024 will be enshrined at the Hall of Fame Golf Outing/Luncheon/Social, starting with golf at 9 a.m., on June 21 at Pleasant Valley Golf Club in Connellsville. Those interested in purchasing luncheon tickets or participating in the golf outing can contact Katie Propes by phone at 724-415-2211 or by email at kpropes@occluss.com.