Benevento, Mary

Mary Benevento was a high school coach, a college coach, a basketball official, and an athletic director. Benevento held the distinction of being the first female Athletic Director named at a public high school in New England. From her position as Athletic Director at Lee High School in New Haven, Benevento went on the become New Haven’s Supervisor of Health, Physical Education, and Athletics, and then Athletic Director at Albertus Magnus College. She was also the first woman inducted into the New Haven Tap-Off Club’s Hall of Fame in 1971.

Benevento served as chairperson of the Connecticut Women’s Board of Officials in the 1950’s, as a National Basketball Committee Member, as Connecticut State Coordinator of Officiating Boards, and as Connecticut Chairperson of the Women’s National Officials’ Committee. She was honored by the CIAC, by the Connecticut Association of Health, Physical Education and Recreation, and by the University of Bridgeport’s Arnold College, which named her Outstanding Alumna of the Decade.