The Saints Owner is a Power Player
I think it’s time to write about Gayle Benson, a gracious socialite who is the owner of the New Orleans Saints, the professional football team that won the XLIV Super Bowl in 2010.
The glamorous Gayle Benson and several of the Saints NFL team – Photo: Courtesy of Town & Country, February 2020
I accidentally came across a terrific piece titled, “The First Lady of Football” in the February 2020 issue of “Town & Country” magazine. Writer Michael Callahan has crafted an insightful piece with a subhead that reads, “New Orleans Saints owner Gayle Benson is one of the NFL’s most influential women, but it’s her moves off the field that make her a power player.”
He starts with Benson having a Friday lunch at Galatoire’s, the legendary restaurant that was founded in 1905 in the French Quarter. He goes on to describe her arrival this way: “As she walks down the hall to the dining room, waiters and busboys step aside. It’s like a scene in ‘My Fair Lady’ when the queen of Transylvania enters the Embassy Ball and everyone bows and curtsies as she passes.” CLICK HERE to get our take on what really happens at Galatoire’s – every Friday without fail.
A MARRIAGE MADE IN HEAVEN
Benson is the third wife of Louisiana’s richest man. She grew up in Old Algiers, a poor neighborhood in New Orleans. She now owns a grand mansion on a private road in Audubon Place, the toniest neighborhood in the city, a 600-acre horse farm in Lexington, Kentucky (she has raced two horses in the Derby), a home in Palm Beach and a 145-ft. yacht.
Benson had a successful career as an interior designer. She is also the widow and principal heir of Tom Benson, the tycoon who owned the Saints and died in March 2018. She is now one of the wealthiest women in the world, with an estimated net worth of $3.1 billion – this makes her the only Louisianan on the Forbes 400 list. As of right now, this 72-year-old socialite is making her presence known in the testosterone-fueled world of professional sports. CLICK HERE to see the fans go bonkers when the Saints won over the Colts with a score of 31 to 16 at the 2010 Super Bowl.
GOD BROUGHT HER TO TOM BENSON IN 2004
The 77-year-old tycoon was at home, puffing and blowing on an exercise bicycle and watching the morning Catholic Mass on television; she was serving as a lector (or reader of a Biblical text other than the Gospel) at the service, and he saw her on TV. The next day he went to the church for a closer look and liked what he saw.
She didn’t. “He looked at me and goes, ‘Who’s this young lady?’ I said to myself. ‘Buddy, I’m not interested in you.’ He looked like trouble to me.”
Benson was right: he was a sore loser and a grudge holder. She was twice divorced and not interested. But later she had dinner with him and found herself falling for his sense of humor and courtly manners. They were engaged in 2004.
Tom Benson’s daughter from a previous marriage was extremely upset when, in January 2015, he disinherited her and other relatives – thereby leaving his entire estate to his wife. They thought they could turn the tide of public opinion by playing the wicked stepmother card but they misjudged the mood of the city: the citizenry of New Orleans rallied around her.
THE SAINTS PLAYERS LOVE HER
“She’s possibly the kindest person I’ve ever known,” says Saints quarterback, Drew Brees. “She makes her players feel real special, whether it’s leaving signed mail clippings on our lockers or interacting with our families at practice. My wife and kids adore her.” That says it all. CLICK HERE to listen to “When the Saints Go Marching In.”
CLICK HERE to hear a rockin’ version of “When the Saints.”
Shaun Nelson-Henrick