Fred Benners (born in 1930) attended Highland Park High School, where he lettered in football, basketball, and baseball. After graduating in 1947, Benners attended the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee before transferring to Southern Methodist University in 1948.
Fred Benners played football for SMU from 1949 to 1951. His greatest contribution to the team was his passing skills, especially during a key game leading SMU to victory against Notre Dame (27-20) in 1951.
While at SMU, Benners was also a member of the Air Force ROTC and the baseball team. He was drafted by the New York Giants to play football professionally.
After one year of professional football, Benners returned to SMU to work on a law degree and was admitted into the bar. In 1954 he was assigned to the legal office at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois. After returning to Dallas, Benners served as a co-chairman for the Young Voter's Committee of Dallas County in 1961 and practiced as an attorney in torts and probate law.
The collection contains numerous newspaper clippings in scrapbooks and loose clippings pertaining to Benners’ career as an SMU athlete and as a professional athlete with the New York Giants football team. The clippings span from 1936 until 1956, with the majority concentrated from 1950 to 1953.
The collection is organized into 2 series:
Fred Benner photographs are also found in the "Heritage Hall collection of Southern Methodist University athletics photographs and memorabilia." (SMU 2007.0406)
Collection is open for research use.
Permission to publish materials must be obtained from the Director of the DeGolyer Library.
It is the responsibility of the user to obtain copyright authorization.
This collection is indexed under the following terms in the Southern Methodist University Libraries' online catalog. Researchers desiring related materials may search the catalog using these terms.
Fred Benners scrapbooks and clippings, Southern Methodist University Archives, DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University.
Gift, Gerry York, 2006.
Fred Benners donated these scrapbooks and clippings during the construction of Heritage Hall (SMU sports museum in Paul B. Loyd, Jr. All-Sports Center). Gerry York deposited them to the SMU Archives in December 2006.
Miles Vaughn processed this collection and wrote the finding aid in the summer of 2007.
Lara Corazalla, 2007.
This series contains newspaper clippings, magazine covers and articles concerning Fred Benners' athletic career at SMU and with the New York Giants.
This series contains two large scrapbooks with newspaper clippings concerning Benners' athletic career.