Class of 2014

Ken Benton was an outstanding four year Sir Bills wrestler in the early 70s on a very talented team that included the section 2 champ Underwood brothers, John and Bill, and Kurt Johnson. Ken also won his share of tournaments under coach Art Recesso at Johnstown and in 1974 was one of the top wrestlers in the section at 138 Lbs. He was voted most improved wrestler in an undefeated season when he lost a close 1-0 match to 1973 section champ Jim Sutton. Winning the Section 2 Class B tournament he was seeded second in the section and a much anticipated rematch was assumed with top seeded Sutton in the finals when unseeded Kirk Boothe of Niskayuna upset both of them to win the 1974 section title.

Benton went on to wrestle in college at Fulton-Montgomery Community College where he would place in the Region III wrestling tournament and qualify to wrestle in the National Junior College wrestling tournament in 1975. He would then go on to wrestle for Hall of Fame Coach Don Murray at SUNY Brockport. After graduating from Brockport, he served as the head wrestling coach at both Johnstown and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute before completing his masters degree and taking a teaching and coaching position at Amsterdam in 1986.

There, he served under legendary Rams coach Pat Reilly for six years before taking the reins of the Amsterdam varsity program in 1993. Ken coached the Amsterdam Rams for 28 years as an assistant and head coach, registering 328 victories with his last win coming against his alma mater Johnstown, and he was part of 22 Big 10 titles. He won a pair of Section 2 Class B titles while producing 30 individual Class B champions and 16 Section 2 champions. He guided three wrestlers to state championships.

Starting with his son Brian in 2006, Benton had a string of 9 seasons in a row of Section 2 champions that placed in the State Tournament culminating with the last match he ever coached in the finals of the 2014 State Tournament when Brandon Lapi won the State Championship. In 2009 Benton was honored by being named the New York State Head Coach of the Year. In 2017 Ken was honored with a Section 2 lifetime achievement award for his contributions to the Capital Region wrestling community where he was part of the Section 2 Wrestling Executive Committee for over 20 years.

When Ken retired in 2014 he was honored on the floor of the New York State Senate by State Senator Cecilia Tkaczyk for his years of dedication as an Amsterdam wrestling coach along with his star wrestler Brandon Lapi and fellow retiring coaches Joe Bena of Duanesburg and Todd Jones of Canajoharie. "The coaches we are honoring today have had long and distinguished careers, and they focused not only on teaching their wrestlers how to be great athletes, but how to be great individuals and citizens as well," Tkaczyk said. "They are wonderful examples to the many young people they have mentored over the years."