Coffee With Larry, July 16, 2024, Deep thoughts on John Bennett, former Exec VP of VISA, that man who changed the Decathlon in America

This is my daily chat with #RunBlogRun viewers and track fans on all things track & field!

This is Coffee with Larry for Tuesday, July 16, 2024.

Our topic:

1. Special Edition: Deep Thoughts on John Bennett

2. John Bennett passed away on July 12, 2024, he was 91.

3. We send our thoughts and prayers to his wife of 65 years, Ann, and his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

4. We are indebted to John Bennett because of the direction his business career took from 1984 to 1996.

5. John Bennett was the Executive VP of Marketing at VISA.

6. John was directly involved in VISA becoming an Olympic sponsor.

7. His love, no, his addiction to the decathlon, gave us the VISA Decathlon program after being pitched by Coaches Harry Marra and Fred Samara.

8. John convinced his board to sponsor the VISA Decathlon program from 1990-2000.

9. During that time, John Bennett helped change the trajectory of the Decathlon in the US, supporting four gold medals, several world records, and the development of two generations of decathletes.

10. Part of the program was promoting the decathlon with Dr. Frank Zarnowski, the dean of the Decathlon.

11. Dan O’Brien, Dave Johnson, Chris Huffins, and Brian Brophy were among the athletes who benefitted from John Bennett’s magnificent obsession.

12. John once told me that the support of the top ten decathletes in the US cost “about the cost of a commercial) for VISA.

13. John also told me that VISA discovered that Olympic involvement activated their cards up to fifteen percent more!

14. One wonders why USATF and WA do not have global sponsors for each event on the track and field program.

15. The sense of history brings Bob Mathias, Milt Campbell, Bill Toomey, Bruce (now Caitlyn) Jenner, and Rafer Johnson to meet and speak with the current decathletes in the 1990-2000 period.

16. John Bennett directed his ad agency to purchase of the back covers of American Athletics and American Track & Field for five years, which helped our magazine. His agency paid the full rate and the total, $64,000, which was a lot of money to us then.
Outside of the running brands, Visa was a unique advertiser who helped us contract with M&M Mars at the time.

17. John Bennett was a thoughtful man, a loving husband, father, grandfather, and great grandfather. I was luck that I had met him and saw him and Ann at…