Benita is a current trustee and past president of the Board of Trustees of the Women's Sports Foundation, an organization that promotes opportunities for girls and women in sports and fitness through education, advocacy, awards and grant programs. Benita is also a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., and the Boards of Directors of the International Swimming Hall of Fame and the VA Sports Hall of Fame.
Benita’s professional success was preceded by an equally successful career as a world-class athlete. Benita won a gold medal in the 100-meter hurdles in the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, CA. Benita was a member of the 1980 and 1984 U. S. Olympic Teams and an Alternate on the 1988 U. S. Olympic Team. She is the second American, after Babe Didrickson, and the first African-American woman to win an Olympic gold medal in the 100-meter hurdles. Benita was also a gold medalist in the 1983 Pan American Games, an eight-time national champion, and a 15-time All-American.
As a result of her many accomplishments, Benita was named “Sportswoman of the Century” by The Potomac News, a newspaper that covers the northern Virginia area. Benita was also named by Sports Illustrated as the “Top Female Sports Figure of the Century from Virginia”. She is an inductee into both the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame and the Virginia High School Hall of Fame.