SmashMouth

The last time Renee Benson saw her father, Saints owner Tom Benson, she remembers him sitting in his New Orleans house in his pajamas, unshaven, trying to eat lunch but struggling to get the meat off of a crab claw.

Renee Benson testified Wednesday that one day earlier, her father had begged her to visit from San Antonio. But, she said, her stepmother called to interrupt the Dec. 2 visit and screamed at her husband to stop talking to Renee. He left the room a few minutes later.

Three weeks later, Renee Benson got a letter signed by her father, saying he wanted no further contact with her or her children, Rita and Ryan LeBlanc. He later announced he intends to leave full ownership and control of the Saints and Pelicans franchises to his wife of 10 years, Gayle Benson, rather than the three heirs, as was long expected.

"I really want to tell him that I love him very much, and I really want some quality time with him, talk about old times," Benson said in a San Antonio courtroom. "I think it's time to pass the baton. I think it's time."



Benson testified in the first day of a two-day hearing in Bexar County Probate Court over whether Tom Benson should be restricted from overseeing the assets in a trust that holds a portion of the billionaire's wealth, including auto-dealerships, a Texas bank and real estate.

Tom Benson's lawyers attacked the portrayal of the billionaire on Renee's Dec. 2 visit, arguing that he had six surgeries on his knee over seven months while fighting infections and was simply taking a recovery day.

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