Robert (Bob) Benedetti

Bob Benedetti was born in France in 1940 when his Italian father and French mother were studying there before the Second World War. When the family returned to Italy, during the Second World War, Bob fell in love with “the beautiful game”. That childhood passion would lead to adult competition on the world stage, including international appearances in 1967 with Canada Soccer’s Men’s National Team at the Pan American Games and the Olympic qualifying series.

Bob was 11 when he and his family arrived by train in the winter of 1952 to his lifelong home in Galt. He recalls wearing shorts when he stepped off the train into the freezing cold, with the snow higher than his head.

There was no local organized soccer when Bob arrived in Galt, so he played baseball and football at Galt Collegiate Institute. Legendary athlete Don Rope was the first to recognize Bob’s great athletic abilities and encouraged him to try other sports as well. Bob won the all-round CWOSSA track and field individual title, finished his high school career excelling in football, and was awarded the Harold E. Gaskin senior football MVP.

Bob enrolled at the University of Waterloo (UW) in mechanical engineering, and ended up playing varsity football because the university did not have a soccer team. Ivor Wynn, McMaster University’s athletic director and TV college football commentator, said Bob was “one of the best running backs in the country outside of pro ball.” The Hamilton Tiger-Cats invited Bob to a tryout camp while he was still studying at UW, but seeing the heft of the players like legendary footballer and wrestler, Angelo Mosca, he concluded pro football was not for him.

Bob’s passion was always soccer, and it was his talent that propelled him onto the Ontario all-star team. At the Canadian Championships in Winnipeg, he was one of 33 invitees to the national team tryouts in May 1967, which also served as the pre-Olympic selection camp. Bob represented Canada in Olympic Qualifiers in 1967, the first-ever Canadian team to feature in the competition.

He was chosen as one of the starters for Canada in the Pan America Games in 1967, finishing in fourth place. Bob still counts representing Canada in an exhibition match versus the Scotland national team that included, Jim Townsend, Harry Hood, Willie Callahan and Sir Alex Ferguson, future coach of Manchester United, the thrill of a lifetime. Following the Pan America Games, Bob was presented with “Athlete of the Centennial Year” as the best amateur soccer player in Ontario.

Bob has devoted his life to family, soccer, and his community. His daughter Anne says that in addition to being a decorated athlete and probably the best soccer player the city has ever produced, her father inspires people. “He makes you want to be a better athlete and person,” she says. “I have watched my nieces, and his other young players grow and shine under his quiet and positive leadership. He makes his teams better not only by being a fantastic athlete and coach but by making success seem not only possible, but constantly present.”

Robert (Bob) Benedetti is welcomed into the Waterloo Region Hall of Fame and joins his daughter, Anne Benedetti, who was inducted in 2025 for her outstanding career in lacrosse.