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Land O'Lakes High School hall of fame inductees to include Will Weatherford, John Benedetto

 
John Benedetto was a football coach and mentor.
John Benedetto was a football coach and mentor.
Published Sept. 18, 2014

LAND O'LAKES — In a text message last year, Jerry Brewster asked John Benedetto to meet to plan the first Land O'Lakes High School Athletic Hall of Fame induction.

Monday seems best, Brewster wrote. Is that an option?

Benedetto, the legendary Land O'Lakes football coach, wrote back.

I'll make it work.

Brewster will never erase those texts, he said. Benedetto died in his sleep five days after the meeting.

Next week, Benedetto, among others, will be inducted to the hall of fame that he helped start.

"It's important to honor those that have come before us," said Brewster, 46, "and that we don't forget."

For the second time, five people who are part of Land O'Lakes sports history will be inducted — three former athletes for accomplishments in sports in high school, one former athlete for accomplishments he or she made after high school, who receives the Lifetime Achievement Award, and one coach or administrator.

This year's ceremony features guest speaker Shelton Quarles, a former Tampa Bay Bucs linebacker, and a dinner prepared by Land O'Lakes High School's culinary students. The three athletes to be inducted are RJ McKenna, Class of 1982, who is known as one of the best quarterbacks and defensive backs in Gators history; Dennis Blankenship, Class of 1980, regarded as one of the best football, basketball and baseball players in the county; and Tina McWithey White, Class of 1979, who helped take the softball team to state tournaments in 1977 and 1979 and also played basketball and volleyball and was a cheerleader.

The Lifetime Achievement Award goes to Will Weatherford, Class of 1998, who played football and is the speaker of the Florida House of Representatives.

Benedetto is being inducted because of his unparalleled history as a coach.

"He is still the most successful high school coach in Pasco County," said Brewster, who wrestled and played football at Land O'Lakes.

The Land O'Lakes Gators Athletic Foundation, which funds the hall of fame, wanted to induct Benedetto last year. But Benedetto, who coached football at Land O'Lakes from 1977 to 2008, found out at the meeting before he died. He said no and told the foundation's directors to induct Land O'Lakes High school's first athletic director Henry Walls instead.

"We weren't going to argue with him," said Brewster, who first met Benedetto in seventh grade.

Some of this year's inductees had known Benedetto a long time, too.

Blankenship, 52, was 10 when he met Benedetto, while Blankenship was manager of a football team Benedetto coached at Sanders Elementary School. Blankenship later joined the team, and Benedetto coached him through high school.

Weatherford, 34, and all five of his brothers also had Benedetto as a coach.

"To be inducted the same night as Coach Benedetto, who had a tremendous impact on my family, makes this even more special," Weatherford said.

Brewster shares his sentiments.

"Coach Benedetto was beloved," Brewster said. "He was a mentor to a lot of people."

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He hopes the hall of fame members can serve as role models to today's students.

McKenna is a health, safety and environment manager at Jacobs Engineering Group, Inc. McWithey White works in management at Cobham Surveillance and Communications, which provides hardware devices to Homeland Security. Blankenship is the vice president of product development at Ericsson Corp. in San Jose, Calif.

"Your sports career is a relatively short part of a total career," Blankenship said. "Everybody moves on to something else. (The hall of fame) shows that Land O'Lakes High School can build leaders beyond the sports field."

The ceremony next week is inspired by that sort of success, Brewster said.

"I wish we would have started this years ago," he said. "Coach Benedetto would have been there."

Contact Arleen Spenceley at aspenceley@tampabay.com or (727) 869-6235. Follow @ArleenSpenceley.