Eastern Washington University Athletics

A former student-athlete, long-time gymnastics coach and faculty member at Eastern, Benson led one of the premier teams in NAIA for 13 seasons from 1966-1970 (five seasons) and 1973-1980 (eight seasons). Nine times Eastern placed in the top 10 at the NAIA Championships under Benson, including third in 1968, fourth in 1967, fifth in 1977 and 1978 and sixth in 1969 when Eastern had its fourth-straight top 10 national finish under Benson. His 1967 squad finished 7-1, with the lone loss coming to the University of Washington. The team lost only once in 1968, again to the UW. Benson coached three individual NAIA champions, and his athletes won a collective total of 13 All-America honors. He served on several NAIA gymnastics committees, including two terms as the president and several years on the rules committee. He also was the gymnastics representative on the NAIA Coaches Board of Directors. Benson graduated from Eastern in 1965 where he competed in gymnastics, and in 1962 he competed in the NCAA Championships in the horizontal bar and rope climb. As a result, he was selected as Eastern's Male Athlete of the Year. He went on to serve as an assistant coach at Washington State University, where he received his master's degree. In the 1971-72 school year, Benson worked on his doctorate degree at Oregon State University. He coached two seasons at Renton, Wash., High School, leading the school to a pair of third-place finishes at the state championships. He is a retired member of the Eastern physical education and health department and still volunteers as a timer at Eastern football games. He graduated from Bothell, Wash., High School.