1. Tom Benson was the owner of several automobile dealerships before buying the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League in 1985 and the New Orleans Pelicans of the National Basketball Association in 2012.
34 Facts About Tom Benson
1. 2.
Tom Benson was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, to Thomas Milton Tom Benson Sr.
3.
Tom Benson then went to work as a car salesman at Cathey Chevrolet in New Orleans.
4.
Tom Benson was the owner of several automobile dealerships in the Greater New Orleans and San Antonio areas.
5.
Tom Benson eventually purchased several small Southern banks and formed Benson Financial, which he sold to Norwest Corporation in 1996.
6.
Shortly after acquiring the Saints, Tom Benson gained a reputation as one of the more popular and colorful owners in the league.
7.
Tom Benson hired general manager Jim Finks and head coach Jim Mora, who led the Saints to their first winning season and playoff appearance.
8.
Tom Benson's popularity hit an all-time low in late 2005 after it appeared he was trying to move the team to San Antonio after Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans.
9.
On July 18,2008, the Tom Benson-led Louisiana Media Company consummated their purchase of WVUE-DT, the Fox affiliate for the New Orleans area and by virtue of their affiliation, the major carrier of Saints games as part of the NFL on Fox contract.
10.
Tom Benson was well known for doing the "Tom Benson Boogie" after Saints home victories.
11.
Tom Benson dismissed executive vice president Arnie Fielkow when Fielkow protested against the relocation, which prompted criticism.
12.
Tom Benson made statements that he had not made a decision to relocate.
13.
Several investors approached Tom Benson to buy the team and keep it in Louisiana.
14.
Tom Benson announced on December 17 that the Saints were staying in San Antonio for the 2006 season, but he retracted this and later announced that they would return to Louisiana.
15.
In 1998, Tom Benson was granted a license for a team in the Arena Football League, which finally began play in 2004 as the New Orleans VooDoo.
16.
Tom Benson relinquished ownership of the VooDoo on October 13,2008, during an owners' teleconference.
17.
In 2017, Tom Benson bought a majority stake in the Dixie Brewing Company from Joe and Kendra Bruno, with plans of returning the brewing operation to New Orleans within two years.
18.
The Tom Benson family established an endowment fund at Central Catholic High School, in San Antonio, Texas, dedicated to the memory of their son Robert Carter Tom Benson, who graduated from the school in 1966.
19.
Tom Benson donated the Benson Memorial Library at Central Catholic.
20.
Robert Carter Tom Benson died of cancer in 1985, at the age of 37.
21.
On September 23,2010, Tom Benson donated $8 million to Loyola University New Orleans in what will be called the Tom Benson Jesuit Center.
22.
In 2015 the Tom Benson family gave $20 million for cancer care and research.
23.
Tom Benson spent his final years in the exclusive Audubon Place neighborhood in New Orleans.
24.
Renee Tom Benson has two adult children, Rita LeBlanc and Ryan LeBlanc.
25.
Rita Benson LeBlanc was Saints owner and executive vice president until Tom Benson fired her, her brother Ryan and her mother Renee, and wrote them out of his will.
26.
She, along with her mother Renee and brother Ryan LeBlanc, then sued Tom Benson claiming he was incompetent and for control of his companies.
27.
Tom Benson's only living child, as of January 2015, is Renee.
28.
All of Tom Benson's property had in fact been put into a family trust whose governing terms, while undisclosed, required him to replace the shares of Saints and Pelicans stock owned by his daughter and grandchildren, with assets of equivalent value.
29.
Tom Benson argued he did so by canceling millions of dollars' worth of debt and turning over $500 million in promissory notes due in about 25 years, but trust officials disagreed.
30.
Tom Benson was hospitalized on February 16,2018, with the flu.
31.
In January 2015, after Tom Benson announced that he had cut his estranged adopted daughter Renee Benson and her adult children out of his will, he was sued by Renee and Renee's two children, Rita LeBlanc and Ryan LeBlanc of Texas.
32.
Tom Benson released a statement saying that the lawsuit and claims against him by his adoptive daughter and her children were false and meritless.
33.
In February 2015, Probate Court Judge Tom Rickhoff named former San Antonio Mayor Phil Hardberger and attorney Art Bayern as co-executors of the testamentary trust of Shirley L Benson, replacing Benson as trustees of the estate.
34.
Tom Benson's attorney said his client, after much wrangling and two weeks of mediation, chose to settle the dispute so as to live his remaining time at peace and to relieve himself of a hefty tax burden required on those assets.