Page 18 - ARUBA TODAY

A18 SPORTS
Friday 16 March 2018

This Nov. 16, 2015, file photo
shows New Orleans Saints
owner Tom Benson leaving BIG CAT
the New Orleans Saints facility
in Metairie, La.
Associated Press

Saints, Pelicans

owner Tom

Benson dies

at age 90

By BRETT MARTEL
AP Sports Writer
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Tom
Benson, a successful auto
dealer who brought the
New Orleans Saints their
only winning seasons, has
died. Benson, who has also
owned the NBA's New Or-
leans Pelicans since 2012,
was 90.
The NFL and NBA teams an-
nounced Benson's death
on Thursday. He had been
hospitalized since Feb. 16
with flu symptoms.
Benson made his mark in
pro sports with the Saints,
which he bought in 1985
when it appeared the club
would be sold to out-of-
state interests and perhaps
moved out of Louisiana.
He paid $70 million for the
team, which is now worth
close to $2 billion.
“Tom Benson’s contribu-
tions to New Orleans and
the National Football
League were legendary.
He purchased a team Woods makes another strong start at Bay Hill
that had never had a win-
ning season; by the third
year of his ownership, the
Saints were in the playoffs,”
NFL commissioner Roger Tiger Woods watches his putt on the 17th green during the first round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational golf tournament Thursday,
Goodell said. March 15, 2018, in Orlando, Fla.
Associated Press
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