Caco, Ben A.

 

Ben A. Caco – (2003)

 

As a senior on the 1956-1957 Clearview Clipper basketball team, Ben Caco led all of Lorain County, as well as the Lakeland Conference, in scoring. During this season, the fiery 5’9″ forward scored 315 points in 12 games in the Lakeland Conference (26.2 ppg), and 453 points in 18 regular season games (25.2 ppg). During his four-year career as a starter at Clearview, the slender sharp shooter amassed 1,023 points, at the time, a career school scoring record. Caco was All-Lakeland Conference his junior and senior years, and he graduated 9th in his senior class of 82 students.

Perhaps the most memorial games of his senior year came against rival, Huron High School. In the first win over Huron that year, Caco scored 42 points. Unbeknownst to Caco, the Huron basketball coach assured the Clearview coach, Les Brady, that Caco would not repeat the scoring feat the next time the two teams played. The Huron coach was right, but not in the manner he had predicted. The next game between the two teams resulted in a 48-point outburst by Caco!

Caco was blessed in having the opportunity to play in a star studded era of great athletes in the Lorain Sports community. He either played with, or against, the following enshrines who are members of the Lorain Sports Hall of Fame: K.J. Koscho (1987), Mike Zelesky (1977), Dale Reichert (1979), Angie Bangas (1980), Jim Lawhead (1985), Joe Chapla (1986), Ron Bobel (1997), and Oscar Clinchscales (2000). Additionally, Caco was an infielder on the 1957 Lorain National Tube Class A baseball team that won the NABF (National Amateur Baseball Federation) National Championship (1988 team enshrine). Caco has also found time to dabble in other sports such as bowling (he has bowled a 300 game) and his favorite pastime is golf (he has three holes in one to his credit!). Ben is still active on the links and he plays on a regular basis.

Upon graduating from Clearview, Caco received a full scholarship to Oberlin College. He played two years of baseball and basketball, and he fondly remembers that during his freshman year at Oberlin the basketball team posted a 18 and 3 won-loss record.

Caco is also a 2002 inductee in the “Wall of Fame” at Clearview High School.

Caco is retired from the Ford Motor Company in Lorain where he worked as a manufacturing engineer for 30 years. He and his wife, Doris, still reside in Lorain, and have two children, Scott and Jeff, and grandchildren, Lauren and Erica.