by Jeff | Feb 17, 2023
Tom Jost was an outstanding cross country runner and baseball player. He participated in both sports from 1976-1979. He was All High in cross country in 1978, finishing fourth. In 1979 he achieved a memorable feat by finishing
1st in the cross country run. Awards that he achieved in sports at Bennett were being named cross country captain in 1978 and 1979, cross country Most Valuable Player in 1978-79, and baseball captain in 1980. A moment that he has always treasured was reaching the Sectional final, losing to Trott High School.
After graduating from Bennett he has been a teacher in the Buffalo school system since 1992. He has been the Hutch Tech baseball coach from 2005-2018. His teams were Cornell Cup Champions 2006 and from 2009-2012. He has been Hutch tech assistant football coach from 2007-2018.
He is married to wife Karen and they have two sons, Andrew and Bryan who played basketball, baseball and football at Clarence High School. Even though he is 55 years old Jost still plays baseball and softball four nights a week during the summer and recreation basketball 3 times a week during the rest of the year.
When Jost was notified that he would be inducted into the Bennett High School Sports Hall of Fame he said that he felt honored to be inducted with so many other outstanding athletes and will always remember the caring teachers and coaches at Bennett.
by Jeff | Feb 17, 2023
He was affectionately called “Big Jim Ewing”, stood 6 feet 7 inches and was one of the greatest basketball players to have ever played at Bennett. He also played volleyball and basketball and from 1976-77 at Cleveland Hill High School, attaining 2nd team honors in basketball in ECIC play. He transferred to Bennett in 1977-78 where he was first team All High and 8th team All State. In 1978 he was the MVP in the High School all star game. He also led Bennett to the Class BB title in 1978. He went on to play pro basketball in Portugal, Argentina and Brazil.
After high school he played college basketball at the University of Wisconsin Superior College. He was MVP All Conference in 1982 and was also co-player of the year for conference play.
Ewing contributes his basketball success to his father who taught him how to play basketball at an early age. Using his knowledge of the game he converted Ewing from being right handed to becoming left handed. His
reasoning was that it would create great difficulty for a defensive player to check him. Changing Ewing to become a left hander led to his being an outstanding scorer and great rebounder.
Ewing said that he thanks God for the opportunity of being selected to the Bennett High Sports Hall of Fame. He had always hoped that he would be selected because of the success of the team that he played on. He appreciated the way he was accepted at Bennett and also the chance to play basketball for legendary coach Larry Veronica.
by Jeff | Feb 17, 2023
To be nominated for the John W. Zeitller Memorial Award nominees must have the following specific qualities : They must have an extraordinary dedication to community and family life. They must have an outstanding reputation as a “spiritual” leader in the community. They must have been a significant mentorship of students and families. They must have recognized dedication to education and leadership. Finally, they must have established leadership and administrative skills.
This years nominee Monsignor James N. Connelly has all of these skills and more. It is hard to believe that Monsignor Connelly is 97 years old and is still active. Tonight he will be receiving the 1st Annual John Zeitler W. Memorial Achievement Award. Monsignor was a lifetime friend of the legendary John Zeitler. Zeitler was an assistant at St. Joseph Parish years ago and worked closely with Monsignor Connelly at the school. He said, “John Zeitler was an amazing friend. He was in charge of our youth program at St, Joseph and did the coaching and the intramural athletics. His knowledge of athletics was second to none. He was a wonderful person who was a great role model for our children and is greatly missed.
When Monsignor Connelly went to Bennett High School he took part in varsity baseball, track and cross country. He has great memories of Bennett and is honored to be receiving this prestigious award.
