Stasi Dimassis-Benbow

Class Year: 1993
Degree: B.S. Movement & Exercise
Profession: Mother; Wide Receiver, Seattle Majestics

The Little Viking

On a cold Midwestern Sunday afternoon, the streets are hushed and empty but every house in every neighborhood and every local bar is packed for the second holiest activity after church: football.

The Dimassis household was no different.

Stasi Dimassis-Benbow ’93 was raised on football, preferring pigskin to tulle, and from the age of 3, aspired to be Ahmad Rashad, Pro Bowl wide receiver for the Minnesota Vikings. She played on football teams with the boys in the neighborhood until the age of seven when her mother, not seeing a future for a girl in football, put Stasi on the soccer team.

Fumble and Recover: Learning Life Lessons at Chapman

Ten years later, Stasi’s love of sports never diminished and she enrolled at Chapman, playing for the soccer team. Like many students, she found a family at Chapman.
The first person she met at Chapman was her soccer coach, Eunice Bobert ’82, who proved to be a life-long friend. Whenever Stasi was homesick, Coach Bobert would take her to local places that reminded her of home. “He taught me that you can find the familiarity of home and family wherever you go.”

She also remembers her favorite professor, Dave Weatherill ’51, ’66. Stasi recalls a night she sent a friend to tell him she was sick so she could meet friends at O’Hara’s Pub. Weatherill accepted the excuse, hoped that Stasi would feel better, and also wished her a good time at the pub that night. Feeling awful, she went to see him the following day to apologize. Despite her wrongdoing, Weatherill never treated her differently. Through Weatherill’s example, Stasi learned to always show respect for others.

But perhaps the most important lesson Stasi learned during her years at Chapman is to always follow her passion and to dream big.

Scoring the Dream

After Chapman, Stasi moved to Seattle and found a job working for the Seahawks in the marketing division. Eventually, she left her job in order to spend more time with her family, but she never abandoned her dream of playing football altogether.

Stasi’s long awaited dream of playing football was realized when she started playing as the wide receiver and kicker for the Seattle Majestics, a women’s football team sponsored by the Independent Women’s Football League (IWFL).

“I’m proud to be part of the ongoing movement to bring light to women athletes,” says Stasi. “I think that since the acknowledgement of Title IX, women’s visibility in sports has been steamrolling.”

As for the game of life, this panther got her touchdown.