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Dante “Dan” Benedetti was born on November 27, 1915, in Sonoma, and attended Petaluma High School where he played football. After a year at Santa Clara University, he transferred to USF and played football for the Dons. At that time, there were two players both named Dante Benedetti, unrelated, on the football and boxing teams, so the football coach George Malley called the 185 lb. player from Petaluma, CA “Big Dandy”, and the smaller 140-pound player from San Francisco “Little Dandy,” to avoid the endless confusion between the two. Dan Benedetti was “Big Dandy” or Dan.
After graduation in 1939, Dan Benedetti taught as an Assistant Football Coach at Petaluma High School, but enlisted in the Marine Air Corps in 1941 at the onset of World War II. He completed training at Naval Air Station in Corpus Christi, TX, on April 4, 1942 and was a top pilot. He was offered and accepted a commission in 1942 and received his pilot’s wings. In September 1942, he was sent to join a Marine scout-bomber squadron based at Henderson Field, Guadalcanal.
An iconic photograph exists, taken at Kezar Stadium by Barney Peterson of the San Francisco Chronicle. The photograph depicts a moment of celebration in a game on October 23, 1938, between USF and rival Saint Mary’s. Three players, Dan Fisk, William Telesmanic, and Dan Benedetti are shown celebrating a 45-yard successful touchdown pass by Fisk to Telesmanic. It was the first touchdown the Dons were able to manage against the Gaels in six years. The Gaels went on to win the game 13-6, and the caption given to the Chronicle photo was “The Joy That Died.” The pre-war photo is especially poignant because of what followed later: all three men died within weeks of each other in World War II.
Fisk died in a flight training accident en route to Moffett Field, CA in 1942. Later that year, in December. Telesmanic and four other crew members: 2nd Lieutenant Clayton R. Blessing, Staff Sergeant Bruister H. LeNoir, Technical Sergeant Joseph P. Hunter, and Private Duer R. Heyman, died when their plane crashed at sea for unknown reasons, near Ascension Island off the coast of Tunisia.
On October 15, 1942, Benedetti and Staff Sergeant Paul Rivers took off from Henderson Field to perform a search mission. The exact nature of their mission is unknown, but they may have been searching for Corporal George F. Priest whose plane had been lost on October 10, 1942. Priest and his pilot 2nd Lieutenant Lucius Smith III had crashed due to engine trouble on a mission, but Smith managed to survive. The squadron sent numerous planes in search of Corporal George Priest, but to no avail. Among them, also stationed at Henderson, was his brother, Corporal Ray Priest, along with his pilot 2nd Lieutenant Robert C. LeBlanc. Ray Priest, Le Blanc, Benedetti and Rivers were all reported missing in action that day and were never found. The local newspapers had to clarify which Dante Benedetti was missing, since “Little Dandy” was serving in the Coast Guard. Dan Benedetti was 26 years old. He was officially declared dead on February 19, 1945, and was posthumously promoted to the rank of Captain.
The photo was shown as part of the World War II exhibit at the College Football Hall of Fame, in South Bend, IN, and is part of the USF War Memorial exhibit. Benedetti was inducted into the USF Hall of Fame in 1969.
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