Mansfield Athletics

Bedenk was a standout in baseball, football, and track and field. He lettered in all three sports every year at Mansfield. Bedenk played third base for MU and his team won 8 of 11 games including 2 against Penn State. He played on the same team as Mike “Gazook” Gazella, a 1992 inductee into the MU legends Hall of Fame and a Member of the famed 1927 Yankees “The Greatest Team in Baseball.” Bedenk was known as “Dutch” to classmates at Mansfield. He was a standout basketball player at guard, a position he also played at Mansfield High School. The yearbook claims he was the best guard to occupy the position in many years. In that era most of the scoring was done by the center and forward. In football Bedenk was a 5’ 8”, 170 pound left tackle and was on teams that lost to Bucknell Varsity and Penn State’s freshman team but beat the Syracuse freshman team. He was also the kicker and held the school record for kicking points in a season at 43, including 11 extra points and a field goal in a 86-0 win over Lock Haven in 1917. It remains the largest winning margin in Mountaineer history. He was also credited with running the ball in games against Bucknell, Buffalo, Penn State and Syracuse. The team finished with a record of 7-2-1. Bedenk missed his last season in football to join the Army in fighting WWI. He returned to Mansfield in time to captain the basketball team to a winning record.