Dean Duane Benson (August 5, 1945 – January 26, 2019) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, ...

and politician.

Football career

Benson played college football and

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

Hamline University Hamline University is a private liberal arts college in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Founded in 1854, Hamline is known for its emphasis on experiential learning, service, and social justice. The university is named after Bishop Leonidas Lent Hamline ...

. Benson graduated from Hamline University in 1967. He played professionally in American Football League for the Oakland Raiders (1967–1969) and in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

for the Raiders (1970–1971), the Atlanta Falcons (1972–1973), and the

Houston Oilers The Houston Oilers were a professional American football team that played in Houston from its founding in 1960 to 1996 before relocating to Memphis, and later Nashville, Tennessee becoming the Tennessee Titans. The Oilers began play in 1960 a ...

(1974–1976).

Business and political career

Benson was a charter member of the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority, created in 2012 to oversee construction of the state's new professional football stadium. He was the executive director of the Minnesota Business Partnership from 1994 to 2003. Benson owned and operated a cattle farm outside of

Lanesboro, Minnesota Lanesboro is a city in Fillmore County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 754 at the 2010 census. It was named after F. A. Lane, an early landowner. The South Fork of the Root River flows through it, with a waterfall dam across fro ...

. Benson served in the

Minnesota Senate The Minnesota Senate is the upper house of the Legislature of the U.S. state of Minnesota. At 67 members, half as many as the Minnesota House of Representatives, it is the largest upper house of any U.S. state legislature. Floor sessions are h ...

, as a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

, from 1980 to 1994 and was the Senate Minority Leader for six years.

Death

Benson died from cancer, on January 26, 2019, at the Methodist Hospital-Mayo Clinic, in Rochester, Minnesota.Former NFL player, state senator, business leader Duane Benson dies
/ref> He was 73.

References

1945 births 2019 deaths People from Lanesboro, Minnesota People from Wright County, Iowa Businesspeople from Minnesota Farmers from Minnesota Republican Party Minnesota state senators Players of American football from Iowa American football linebackers Hamline Pipers football players Oakland Raiders players Atlanta Falcons players Houston Oilers players American Football League players American athlete-politicians Deaths from cancer in Minnesota 20th-century American businesspeople {{linebacker-1940s-stub

Football career

Business and political career

Death

See also

References