Arthur graduated from Bennett High School in June 1938 and was a post graduate student in 1939. Art’s diminutive stature prevented him from playing basketball in his freshman year at Bennett. In his sophomore year, he was on Fred Braun’s squad. He played basketball and could drop the ball through the hoops from any angle. He averaged 13 points per game and was on the All High basketball team. He also played baseball, batted .450, held down the shortstop post, and was All High. In football, he was named an All High halfback. Fred Braun named Art Bennett High School’s triple-threat – triple sport athlete and was quoted in the January 1939 News as saying, “Art is Bennett’s greatest all around athlete.”
Upon leaving Bennett, he was awarded a four year athletic scholarship to Michigan State University. At Michigan State he played baseball as a third baseman. He held the batting crown with an average of .333.
He played baseball for Bright Winery in Canada during the summers while at Michigan State. In 1991 he was inducted into the wall of fame in Niagara Falls, Canada. He graduated from Michigan State in 1943 and entered the Columbia University Naval Officers School in New York City. Upon graduation, he was sent to the South Pacific. Later in Pittsburgh he boarded the LST “1049” and eventually became its commanding officer. Returning to the South Pacific aboard the LST he served in waters near Australia, Japan, and Okinawa until the end of the war. The ship was attacked in two combat zones, New Guinea and Okinawa. He was honorably discharged in 1946 and joined Smith Davis, one of the oldest insurance agencies in the city of Buffalo. In 1951, he was recalled to serve in the Navy during the Korean War. He was the communication officer on the USS Freemont with the sixth fleet in the Mediterranean. He was discharged from the Navy as a Senior Lt. in 1953. He returned to work at Smith Davis, became President of the company and in 1980 joined Walsh Duffield Insurance Company. He retired from Walsh Duffield in 1989.
He was President of the Michigan State Alumni Association in 1967 and had Duffy Daugherty as the speaker for the spring banquet. The club was named the outstanding out of state alumni club that year. He was past commodore of the George F. Lamm Post American Legion #622, Past President of Casualty and Society Club of Buffalo and Past President of the Buffalo Chapter National Sojourns (Master Masons who were officers in the services).