Wayne State University Athletics

Benko, a native of Melbourne, Australia, and graduate of Bentliegh (Victoria Anst.) HS, earned four varsity letters (1973-74-75-76) as a foilist on Wayne State's men's fencing team. Benko also set or tied two NCAA national records while at Wayne, and was a four-time participant in the Summer Olympic Games. Benko established a NCAA record by winning three national foil individual championships (1974,1975 and 1976) during his career. Former Tartar Ernie Simon would tie Benko's record when he won the NCAA Individual Foil National Championship three times (1978-80-81) New York University's sabre Michael Lofton now holds the record with four titles (1984-87), the maximum in one weapon. Benko tied another NCAA record when he became the second fencer in NCAA history, and the first foilist, to earn All-America First Team honors in all four years of competition. In his first NCAA national competition, 1973, Benko finished third. Benko was also a four-time foil champion in the Great Lakes Fencing Championships, and a member of Wayne State's 1975 men's fencing team that won the school's first-ever men's national championship. Benko compiled an impressive 290-1 collegiate dual record in foil, losing only one bout his freshman campaign. He was undefeated his sophomore, junior and senior seasons in regular season competition. Adding competition in the Great Lakes and NCAAs, Benko lost only eight of 329 bouts in his entire Wayne career, for a .976 overall winning percentage. He went undefeated his junior year (66-0), and finished with a 99-2 overall record his senior season. While at Wayne State, Benko earned the team's Outstanding Fencer Award in 1974 and 1975, and was presented the Captain's Award in 1976. Before joining Wayne, Benko had already participated in one Summer Olympics (1972 Munich) before Wayne State Athletic Hall of Fame member coach Istvan Danosi welcomed his first Australian recruit. Though a native of Australia, Benko's parents, Kathleen and Laszlo, are natives of Hungary. Both escaped from Hungary during World War II, and immigrated to Australia, where they married. Danosi, also of native of Hungary, first encountered Benko at the 1970 World Junior Championships in Madrid, in which Benko finished in the final six. Danosi approached Benko, questioned him about his Hungarian-sounding surname, and both struck an immediate friendship. During the championships, Danosi offered Benko a scholarship to Wayne State. After finishing in the Top 16 of the 1972 Munich Summer Olympics for the Australian National Team, Benko came immediately to Detroit to begin his Wayne career. After finishing his WSU career, Benko returned to the International circuit, where he was ranked in the Top 10 in foil from 1977-81. He finished sixth in the 1976 Montreal Summer Olympics, ninth in the 1980 Moscow Summer Olympics, and 17th in the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics. He has won two international competitions in foil-the 1975 Martini & Rossi Invitational in New York, and the 1982 Paris Invitational. Benko also captured the 1978 Gold Medal in foil and epee in the British Commonwealth Games, and won the Silver Foil Medal in the 1970 games. Benko is a 19-time Australian National Foil Champion. He has been inducted into the Australian Olympic Hall of Fame and the NCAA Collegiate Hall of Fame. Benko received his Bachelor of Arts in English from Wayne State in 1979, and after spending time on the international circuit, returned to Australia with his Detroit-born wife, Susan. They reside in East Brighton with their son Michael, 10. Under the tutelage of his father, Michael is the Australian Under12 Foil Champion. Benko is also a coach for the Spartacus Fencing Club in Melbourne, currently the state champions in Boys' and Girls' Under-12 and Senior fencing. Benko is manager of Balmoral Holden, a General Motors' dealership located in Melbourne.