Ben Turner

Ben Turner was a transformative figure in Manasquan High School athletics in the early 1940s. Serving as assistant coach for football, basketball, and baseball from 1938 to 1941, he was part of one of the most successful periods in school history. The 1939 football team went 9-0 — the first undefeated team in MHS history — and won both the Shore Conference and Central Jersey State Championship. The 1940 team repeated the undefeated feat, and the 1940-41 basketball team won MHS's first ever Shore Conference Championship.

Turner's service to the country interrupted his coaching career when he was called to serve in the U.S. Army for 42 months, including 17 months in the European Theatre. He landed at Utah Beach in August 1944 as part of the D-Day follow-up operations and fought in the Battle of the Bulge — one of the most intense campaigns of World War II.

After the war, Turner returned to education, serving as Principal of Brielle School from 1946 to 1957 and as Eatontown Elementary Principal until his retirement in 1974. His contributions to Manasquan athletics and his service to his country make him one of the most distinguished inductees in Hall of Fame history.