James J. Weindel

by Jeff | Feb 17, 2023

Jim Weindel was a three sport star at Bennett in the early 50’s. He was a backfield star in football, the starting point guard in basketball, and a catcher in his specialty, baseball. In football he started for the Tigers in his junior and senior seasons, a team that went undefeated but couldn’t play in the Harvard Cup game because of an overage player. Highlights include scoring a TD on a 43 yard play to defeat arch rival Kensington, breaking a 4 game losing streak to the Suffolk Ave. school. Weindel also scored a Touchdown in the Kensington game in his senior year for a two year win streak against the rival Knights. He later attended Mississippi State on a football scholarship.

In basketball, weindel was the starting point guard on a team that did not win the Yale Cup, but defeated the team that did, the legendary Emerson High powerhouse, in both his junior and senior years.

Weindel’s specialty was baseball. A three year varsity player, he was the All-High catcher in 1952. His batting average that year was .392, and he caught for Johnnie Zeitler (B.S.H.O.F. ) and Earle Hannel, on a Cornell Cup championship team. After a stint at Mississippi St., Weindel signed a professional baseball contract with the Chicago Cubs. He rose to the level of AAA in 3 years of pro ball. He later played with the top amateur local baseball team, the Simon Pures, where his batting average was .342.

Jim Weindel served in the U.S. Army, is married with 3 daughters and 5 grandchildren.

Reg Eyre

by Jeff | Feb 17, 2023

If ever there was a “man for all seasons” in the annals of Bennett High School sports history, it would be none other than 1959 graduate, Reggie Eyre. As a football, basketball and baseball major letterman, Eyre is one of the select few Bennett athletes to have played on a championship team in all three sports. When the Tigers won the Cornell Cup baseball championship in 1957, the Harvard Cup championship for football in 1958, and were crowned Yale Cup basketball champions in 1959, he became a member of the exclusive “trifecta” club.

As a hard hitting, multi position baseball player, Eyre was named first team All-High in his senior year, hitting a robust .520 and patrolling the outfield positions with skill and grace. A starting End on the gridiron, reliable #17, Reg Eyre played with determination and was a major cog in the 1958 Bennett team that rolled through the Harvard Cup season undefeated, finishing an unblemished 7 wins, 0 losses.

On the hardcourt, Eyre was part of a Bennett hoops squad that was the first Bennett team to capture the Yale Cup, as well as the Board of Education playoff trophy. At the culmination of his final season at Bennett, he was the only member of his senior class of 1959 to win a varsity letter in three sports.

After completing his education at Bennett, Eyre attended the University of Buffalo. He currently resides in Tonawanda, NY.