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Coach
Rescued and Rebuilt USF Baseball Program
Achieved Best WCAC Record in 34 Years
WCAC Baseball Coach of the Year, 1971
USF Career Years Coached: 1962-1980
USF Career Years Played: 1937-1940
Birthdate: May 16, 1919
Hometown: San Francisco
High School: Saint Ignatius College Preparatory
Dante Benedetti was born on May 16, 1919, in San Francisco, of Italian immigrant parents. He grew up in North Beach playing baseball with Joe DiMaggio, and knew all the famous San Francisco baseball players. His father opened the neighborhood New Pisa restaurant in 1927. He attended Galileo and Commerce High Schools, but was expelled for fighting. Benedetti enrolled at Saint Ignatius College Preparatory, and then attended USF on a boxing scholarship. 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 pound player from Petaluma, CA “Big Dandy,” and the smaller 140 lb. player from San Francisco “Little Dandy,” to avoid endless confusion between the two. Dante was one from San Francisco. He lettered in football, boxing, and baseball.
After graduation in 1941, he served in the United States Coast Guard and the Marine Corps during World War II, and after the war, took over the New Pisa from his father. He would open the restaurant in the morning, and his sister would manage it while he taught Italian, Spanish and sports at Saint Ignatius College Preparatory.
Baseball was his passion. The New Pisa sponsored eight youth league teams for years, and he often bought equipment out of his own pocket. If he had a ballplayer who couldn’t afford college, he paid for their tuition. He coached baseball at USF for 16 years for $1 per year to prevent the baseball program from being dropped, and finished with 373 wins. His 1971 team record of 15-6 was second in WCAC, and it was USF’s best baseball performance in 30 years. When he retired in 1980, USF dedicated the baseball diamond to him, and Joe DiMaggio attended. "When I refer to Dante Benedetti,” DiMaggio said, “I refer to him as Mr. Baseball.” Benedetti also won 89 boxing fights in his amateur career. The Baseball MVP award at USF is named after him.
“He was a man from another time,” said San Francisco firefighter Don Russo, who played baseball for him at USF, and who worked for him at the New Pisa. “He gave everybody a chance, a chance to play, and a chance to work. And sometimes third and fourth chances. Everybody who played for him is one of Dante’s boys. We loved him.” Another one of his players, Tad Tassone, said, “He was one of the most generous people I ever met.”
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