Lee Benson
Lee Benson is an award-winning Deseret News columnist. He is also a sportswriter and has covered at least nine Olympic Games.
He earned a communications degree from Brigham Young University in 1976. He had started writing sports for the Deseret News in 1972 while still in high school.
While studying at Brigham Young University, he walked into the university’s newspaper office to see if they ever let students not majoring in journalism write for the paper. The sports editor happened to be at his desk and told Benson to cover a wrestling meet that night. He did, and when he saw his byline in print, he decided to change majors. For 25 years he wrote sports stories and now writes a general interest column
Additionally, he has written several books. He coauthored (with Tom Smart) In Plain Sight: The Startling Truth Behind the Elizabeth Smart Investigation (2006) and Billy Casper’s autobiography The Big Three and Me (2012) with James W. Parkinson. Also with Parkinson, he wrote Soldier Slaves: Abandoned by the White House, Courts and Congress for which Benson and Parkinson were awarded the Naval Institute Press Author of the Year Award. He also co-wrote LaVell: Airing It Out (with LaVell Edwards), He is the author of And They Came to Pass, the story of BYU's quarterbacks of the 70s and 80s and their coach, LaVell Edwards.
At the time of the death of his twin brother, Dee Benson, he said, “In journalism school they tell you to have one person in mind when you write stories. That person was Dee. I never wrote anything that wasn’t to him.”[1]
Lee Benson is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
