Spaulding School opened in the middle of the school year in 1954 when Frank was in the sixth grade and his best friend was Danny Butler. Together they shared a love of basketball – and played a lot of it.
In high school, Frank became a star basketball player. He scored a dramatic play in the 1960 State Championship game when Suffield played against St. Anthony’s in Bristol. The game was tied with 10 seconds left on the clock, when Frank charged to the basket with the ball, passing it to Tom Ganley who leaped and aimed for the basket. While the ball was in the air, the buzzer sounded and then the swish was heard. Suffield won the game, 64 to 62, Suffield’s first championship in any sport. The game and the players – Frank, Danny Butler, David Lill, Donald Robinson and Tom Ganley became Suffield legends. A photo of a grieving St. Anthony’s cheerleader appeared in newspapers throughout Connecticut. It gave further acclaim to Suffield’s win. A second State Championship was not won again until 1985.
Enjoying a game.
I met with Frank Beneski, a retired executive of Cigna, to write an article about what Suffield was like when he was growing up.
He grew up in West Suffield, the son of Chancey and Alfreda. They lived on South Grand Street. Saturdays, he worked with his father on his uncle’s large tobacco farm from morning to night. The town was still rural back then.
Frank says that basketball is a thinking man’s sport. Most basketball players are leaders and do well academically. Frank modeled that statement because his success in sports and academics garnered him a full scholarship to the University of Hartford.
In the end, Frank did not want to talk about growing up in Suffield. Although he clearly loves the town, Frank’s greatest love is Sheila, the little sister of Danny Butler, Frank’s best friend. Six months after Sheila and Frank began dating in high school, they knew they were going to get married. And they did; they married in 1964. Danny and Sheila were the children of Harold and Margaret Butler, Suffield’s first policewoman. Sheila grew up near her grandfather’s farm on East Street. Frank called her an East Street river rat.
Sheila and Frank raised two boys, Tim and Peter. They lived for 22 years in East Granby but returned to Suffield, the town they both loved, and built a house on property scoped out by Sheila when Frank was on a business trip. Until Peter died in 2002, they spent sun-soaked hours at the family compound on Lake Congamond. When Sheila turned 30, Frank planned an elaborate “This is Your Life” party with recordings documenting each year of her life. Family was paramount. When relatives needed a place to stay after a house fire, they stayed with Frank and Sheila. Ted, Frank’s little brother, also came under the Sheila and Frank umbrella after Frank and Ted’s father died. Frank was 18 and Ted was just four.
When Ted started playing sports, Sheila and Frank went to his games. They enjoyed the games so much that even after Ted graduated from high school, they continued to attend games. They started following the best high school teams, traveling all over Connecticut. At first, they attended 20 games a year, then 45, each year the number increased until the year they attended 145 games. Frank and Sheila arrived early to get seats at center court. They, in turn, developed a following. Players, coaches and reporters scanned the crowd for their faces. For 45 years, they watched the games together. Numerous articles, photos and interviews about them appeared. Sheila never understood what the fuss was all about.
The Suffield Sports Council advertised for people to help install an Athletic Hall of Fame in the high school. Frank was the only person who responded. Recruited on the spot, Frank in turn recruited Sheila. Together they planned banquets, raised money and Sheila, a vital but at first reluctant team player, wrote the notes. Scholarships named in honor of the Beneskis, begun in 2009, continue to honor Suffield high school athletes today.
When Sheila passed away in 2020, the tributes were many. Placed on Sheila’s usual center court seat was a basketball with a reserved sign for Sheila, the First Lady of Connecticut High School Basketball. The 2020 basketball tournaments were dedicated to the Beneskis.
Frank still grieves. He was absent from the games for a long time until Eamon, their grandson, told Frank he had to return. Frank is back watching the games, although he attends fewer than before. He recently presented the Connecticut High School Association’s Team and Player of the Year awards, but he retired from the Athletic Hall of Fame Board. His photo on the Athletic Hall of Fame at the Suffield High School looks out at the students. At home, in photos throughout the house, Sheila looks out at Frank, watching over him.