Marc Taglieri and Chipper Benway have been best friends since they were 3 years old, growing up every step of the way together in Hoboken.
“He’s my best friend in the world,” Taglieri said of Benway last week. “We’ve pushed each other and steered each other in the right direction. Our birthdays are only two days apart. We haven’t been apart for too long.”
“We’ve been through so much together,” Benway said. “I don’t know where I would be without my friendship with Marc.”
The two shared some great moments on the athletic fields during their days at Hoboken High School. Taglieri was the starting quarterback and Benway was his primary receiver on football teams that played in two straight state championship playoff games (1988 and 1989). The two also played on two HCIAA baseball championship teams, with Taglieri as the catcher and Benway as the second baseman, in 1989 and 1990.
“We were fortunate to play on a lot of great teams,” said Taglieri, who is now the athletic director at Lincoln High School in Jersey City. “It was a great run and having all that talent made it easy to be successful. Football and baseball was the same thing. The Hoboken athletic tradition is amazing.”
The friends have remained close to this day, even in their professional lives. For instance, when Taglieri was the head baseball coach at Passaic Valley, he hired Benway as an assistant coach. And when Benway became the head football coach at Hudson Catholic, he hired Taglieri to serve as an assistant.
Saturday night, the long-time friends will get to share something very special together. Taglieri and Benway are among the 12 former great athletes that will be inducted into the Hoboken/Demarest High School Sports Hall of Fame.
The dinner, which will be held at the Hoboken Elks Saturday, March 10, beginning at 7 p.m., marks the ninth year that the organization will honor its former greats as Hall of Famers.
Other than Taglieri and Benway, those receiving the honor include former head basketball coach Gene Sparta, who is also a highly respected baseball umpire; baseball standout Angelo Salvetti (Class of 1967); baseball standout Bob Montesano (Class of ’59), Bob Wendelken (Class of ’65), who played both baseball and basketball; Vin Monica for football; Art Certisimo (Class of ’62), football; Bill Logan (Class of ’51), football; Bob Pellecchia (Class of ’74), football; and Angelo Mecca (Class of ’70), soccer.
The inductee class has its share of educators as well, with Wendelken (the current principal at Union Hill) and Certisimo (the vice-principal at North Bergen High School) receiving recognition.
Dennis Sevano and Buddy Matthews, the school’s head baseball coach, serve as the co-chairmen for the event, which has been a gigantic success in the past and should be as well this year, especially with the two friends highlighting the night, becoming the two youngest inductees at 28 years old.
“They are both very deserving of the honor,” said Matthews, who was Taglieri and Benway’s baseball coach. “They represent that group of great athletes who were the first ones to start the recent winning tradition. And they were a big part of it, both in baseball and in football.”
Matthews said that he especially fond of Taglieri and Benway, because they both chose to pursue the same profession – coaching on the high school level, although Taglieri recently became an administrator as Lincoln’s athletic director earlier this year.
“I really have a lot more pride when people that I once coached turn into coaches themselves,” Matthews said. “The things I learned there, from Buddy and Coach [Ed] Stinson [the current high school principal], put me in the position to move into coaching and athletics myself,” Taglieri said. “I’m indebted to them.”
Both inductees said that they were extremely flattered by the honor.
“Especially with some of the others who are already in the Hall of Fame and those getting inducted this year, it’s a great honor,” Taglieri said. “They’ve done a lot more with their careers than I did at this point. It really means a lot to me.”
“There are a few things that make it very special,” Benway said. “First, to be the youngest to be inducted and the fact that I’m going in with my best friend, that makes it even more special. I never expected this at this point. It’s actually unbelievable. People always said that we were a special group.”
Both inductees also said that they would never forget their roots, where it all began.
“Being part of that great tradition is something that I will cherish forever,” Taglieri said.
“There’s one thing that people can’t understand, but it’s true,” Benway said. “We’ve all moved on to different places, but no matter where we go, we’ll always be Red Wings. No one will ever take that away. When you think of all the great athletes that have come out of Hoboken, for the committee to put me in that class is truly special. I’m really looking forward to the night.”
Tickets for the ninth annual Hoboken/Demarest High School Sports Hall of Fame dinner are priced at $40 and include beer, wine and soda. For further information, contact Buddy Matthews at 653-4359 or by e-mail at BudRedWing@aol.com.