Recently, I learned that my colleague and friend, Lee Benson, is going to be inducted into the Utah Sports Hall of Fame, class of 2026. My first thought: Great. My second thought: Wait, what? He’s not in there already?
The last time Benson wrote for the Deseret News sports department, email was just being invented. He became a general columnist in 1997, but before that he was a sports columnist and Chief Observer and commentator for a golden age in Utah sports — the BYU quarterback factory, LaVell Edwards, Danny Ainge, Danny Vranes, the Utah Jazz (their arrival from New Orleans, Larry Miller, Stockton/Malone, the NBA Finals), BYU’s national football championship, the Miracle Bowl, Ron McBride, Frank Arnold (remember him?), Jerry Pimm (remember him?), Urban Meyer, Alex Smith, the Winter Olympics, the bid scandal, etc.
He answered the bell for 25 years, except for the time he sent his identical twin brother Dee to a road game in his place so he could stay home and recover from the flu (no one noticed). It was a great time for sports writing and Benson was on top of his game. He was a writer first, not a fan with a keyboard like so many nowadays. Sports was his chosen vehicle to tell stories, which offered a writer drama, humor, struggle, triumph, loss and a wide variety of characters. Where else could you find a man like Rick Majerus?…