Athlete.
Born at Riverton on 16 September 1930 to Alberta Gwendoline Jacobs (1904-1980) and Carl Richard Benson (1903-1965), he became involved in sports at an early age. After his family moved to Winnipeg’s west end, he grew up playing sandlot football on a cinder field. However, he participated in several sports and even boxed. In 1948, he played baseball for Morse Place Monarchs and pitched in the Greater Winnipeg Junior League all-star game. That fall, Daniel MacIntyre Collegiate won the Winnipeg High School Football championship with Benson an all-star at halfback. Moving to junior football, he helped Weston Wildcats win the Manitoba championship the next season and was the junior league’s MVP in 1950. His pitching arm earned him a trip to a Washington Senators tryout camp and stints in Grandview and with the Calgary Purity 99 team. Benson played defence in hockey and won the 1952-1953 Winniboine Intermediate League title with the Winnipeg Kings. In 1952, he was given the Dr. Beattie Martin award for Rookie-of-the-Year in the West.
It was as a member of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers team that, in 1953, he set a Canadian Football League playoff record by scoring six touchdowns and the most points in a play-off game with 30, in a semi-final against the Saskatchewan Roughriders. The Winnipeg sports broadcaster John Hampson “Cactus Jack” Wells reportedly tagged him with the nickname “Boom Boom” for his rough, tough style of play. Torn ligaments early in the 1956 season led to the end of his Bombers career.
A hard-hitting infielder in fastball, he went on to play Senior A during the 1960s with Monte Casino Legion, Merchant’s Hotel, and Concord Motor Hotel. In 1967, the short-staffed Molson Canadians team added Benson as pickup for the playoff round of the Canadian championship in Saskatoon. With Benson playing first base in the final game, the Canadians won Manitoba’s only national senior men’s title. He was also an accomplished curler, and reached the men’s provincial championship with Lyle Henry’s Strathcona team in 1962. He later coached and umpired community softball, and enjoyed playing golf.
In 1949, married Elizabeth Edna “Betty” Lane (1930-2019), with whom he went on to have five children. After retiring from organized sports, he pursued various entrepreneurial and hands-on ventures, including working in the meat business alongside Dwight Watson; operating a flower shop where his children assisted with deliveries; photographing events; and producing a local bowling newspaper. In his neighborhood in Winnipeg, he supported youth sports by providing equipment to children, fostering a sense of community and encouragement among local kids.
The family later relocated to Vancouver Island, before moving to Innisfail, Alberta, where he again became actively involved in community and sports endeavours. He died on 3 April 2012 at Innisfail. He was inducted posthumously into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame on 24 May 2012 at Selkirk, honoured as an all-round athlete in recognition of his accomplishments in several sports, not just football.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 5 April 2012.
“Lorne ‘Boom Boom’ Benson,” Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame.
“Boom Boom Benson was a pure all-rounder,” Winnipeg Free Press, 14 May 2014.
“Dennis Lorne (Boom Boom) Benson,” Hunter Floberg Family Tree, Ancestry.
This page was prepared by Lois Braun.
Page revised: 12 January 2026
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