Sports
Bennetts honored February 7
The Pointer
rnech142@uwsp.edu
In a move to document and celebrate the rich University of Wisconsin- Stevens Point basketball tradition here in Stevens Point, the floor in the Quandt Fieldhouse will be named the “Dick and Jack Bennett Court” in honor of two highly successful Pointer coaches from the past.
“The public fundraising for this project started fall 2008,” Assistant Director of Development in Athletics Tony Romano said. “All of the funds from the campaign will be used for the floor naming, Quandt gym renovations and remodeling of Quandt lobby.”
With more improvements on the way in the future, the dedication in honor of brothers Dick and Jack Bennett will take place during halftime at the men’s basketball game Saturday, Feb. 7, against UW-Superior.
Dick Bennett was a coach at UW-SP for nine seasons. In that time, the Pointers compiled 173 victories. Bennett moved on to UW-Green Bay, added a highly successful run as the UW-Madison men’s basketball coach and then retired.
A few years into retirement, Bennett would re-enter the college basketball realm as head coach for Washington State until he retired again in 2006.
Jack Bennett, the younger of the two, came to UW-SP in the 1996 season and took the Pointers to five Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference titles and five NCAA tournaments. He earned two NCAA championships and became the top-winning coach with a 200-56 record.
“It’ll be something very special, to share it with him where we both kind of cut our teeth. When I think back at the Point tradition, Dick really tried to rebuild the program, and we were very grateful for finishing the way we did,” Jack Bennett remarked in the Post Crescent. “So this will be something neat to share. I guess it just means we’re getting old.”
