New Orleans Hornets owner Tom Benson is feeling invigorated and ready to go after an NBA title
 

“I feel like I’m 50 again,’’ gushed 84-year-old Tom Benson into the telephone on Friday from New York.

The owner of the football Saints had just become owner of the basketball Hornets, and it reminded him of his basketball days at Loyola University.

“I was part of a winning team,’’ he laughed. “My cousin Bob was a star player and I was the water boy. I was a big fan of Bob. He’s the reason my roots in basketball go back before my roots in football.’’

Suddenly, as fate decreed, Tom Benson saw his basketball roots blossom.

On Friday, he listened to NBA Commissioner David Stern call him “the perfect owner’’ for a basketball team “in one of the country’s treasured cities, whose commitment to New Orleans is unrivaled.’’

New Orleans Hornets owner Tom Benson is feeling invigorated and ready to go after an NBA title | NOLA.com