Benet pays tribute to LeFevour
By Blake Baumgartner For Sun-Times Media February 5, 2011 5:44PM
Updated: September 24, 2012 6:25AM
With its undefeated boys basketball team gunning for its second straight conference championship serving as a backdrop, Benet Academy paid homage to perhaps its most signature athletic alum on Friday.
Dan LeFevour, who quarterbacked the Redwings football team from 2002-04 before matriculating to Central Michigan, had his No. 11 retired before the basketball team’s game against St. Patrick, becoming the first football player to be so honored.
He was presented with a framed jersey Friday night.
“It’s obviously a great honor. I’m not sure if anyone else has had their number retired,” LeFevour said in a phone interview earlier Friday. “(The school) talked to me and said they wanted to do this and see if I was OK with it. And, of course, I was. It’s a great honor.”
After becoming the full-time starter at quarterback midway through his sophomore year in 2002, LeFevour threw for 2,929 yards, which stands third all-time in school history, and he would go on to set the school’s all-time career record for touchdowns with 54.
“There’s a lot of stuff (I remember),” he said of his time at Benet. “A lot of the great friends I made and a lot of people that I still keep in contact with today, so a lot of great memories — not just on the court or on the field but in the classroom and within the school.”
Moving on to Central Michigan after graduating from Benet in 2005, his success continued.
By the time his career as a Chippewa concluded in 2009, LeFevour was perched atop the Mid-American Conference record book in career completions, attempts, passing yards, passing touchdowns, total touchdowns and total offensive yards while becoming the first player in NCAA history to amass 12,000 passing yards and 2,500 rushing yards.
Catching on with the Cincinnati Bengals just prior to the start of the 2010 season after being cut by the Bears, he said the transition from year one to year two should go more smoothly because he knows where he’s going to be.
Spending time learning behind Carson Palmer, a two-time Pro Bowl selection and the 2002 Heisman Trophy winner, as the Bengals’ No. 3 quarterback has LeFevour “definitely more prepared” heading into the offseason and his second season.
“It was great. He obviously has a lot of knowledge, being an eight-year veteran and playing with the same franchise for so many years,” he said of Palmer. “He’s seen a lot of things and I tried to watch him and gather as much as I could.”
