Bill Benner to be Honored as 'Indy PR Legend'

INDIANAPOLIS - March 25, 2022 - PRLog -- Bill Benner, who was front and center as Indianapolis emerged as a major sports city and whose career has earned national commendations, will be recognized as an "Indy PR Legend" at a luncheon next month.  The Indianapolis Public Relations Society (IPRS) will present the award to Benner at the organization's monthly luncheon meeting on Wed., April 20, which will fittingly take place at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in the Pennsylvania Street Conference Room.

The public is invited to attend the tribute, which will include remarks from several people who have worked closely with the honoree.

Benner's sportswriting career began in 1968 at The Indianapolis Star, where he became a columnist in 1987 and he would spend 33 years covering the city's renaissance from a courtside seat.

"There was a vision that a few leaders had back in the '70s – Jim Morris and Ted Boehm and a host of others – going back to the building of Market Square Arena," Benner, who was born in Indy and is a product of Center Grove schools, recently told Geist Magazine. "They had a vision to turn Indianapolis into a sports capital and make the investment with the arena, and then the Hoosier Dome, and attract the NCAA and bring Final Four here. All that led up to the Super Bowl, and then we had five consecutive Big Ten basketball tournaments, Final Fours, and now, of course, March Madness."

Benner wrote a sports column for the Indianapolis Business Journal from 2001–13 and taught journalism at Butler University. He also served as vice president of communications for the Indiana Sports Corporation, director of communications for the Indianapolis Convention & Visitors Association, and senior associate commissioner for external affairs for the Horizon League before joining Pacers Sports & Entertainment in 2013 for a seven-year stint.  He left the organization in 2020 as senior vice president for corporate, community and public relations.

At that time, Rick Fuson, president and COO of PS&E, stated, "Bill Benner is as good as there is in the business and has for nearly 50 years served our state and city with the highest regard."

Twice awarded Indiana Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association (now the National Sports Media Association), Benner was inducted last year into the U.S. Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) Hall of Fame. He also was awarded a Sagamore of the Wabash by Governor Eric Holcomb in 2017.

Benner remains a contributor to the statewide Inside Indiana Business with Gerry Dick television show and continues his long record of community engagement as a board member (and former board chairman) of Special Olympics Indiana, and is also on the board of the Pacers Foundation.

For information, contact Lisa Dellinger at lisadellinger@comcast.net.