A two sport athlete at Georgetown following his transfer from Notre Dame in 1946, Chicago's George Benigni played one season of basketball under Elmer Ripley, who recruited him to South Bend in 1944 during Ripley's brief stop there.

Benigni, a three year starter in football, was drafted by the Chicago Hornets of the All-America Football Conference in 1949. When the AAFC folded, Benigni was picked up in the NFL dispersal draft by the Detroit Lions, but opted for a career in the FBI, where he served for 27 years as a special agent before retiring to Joliet, IL, where he remained until his death in 2012.