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Former USC football player Carl Benson dies

By David Wharton
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Carl Benson, a guard on USC’s 1939 national championship team, died of cancer in San Diego last month, his family said. He was 92.

The ’39 team defeated Tennessee, 14-0, in the Rose Bowl to finish 8-0-2 and take the No. 1 spot in the Dickinson System, one of numerous polls at the time.

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While the NCAA listed USC with Texas A&M and Cornell as champions for the season, the players had to lobby their own school for many years before administrators agreed to honor them in a halftime ceremony at the Coliseum in 2004.

Recalling a squad that included quarterback Ambrose Schindler, Benson once said: ‘Just so many good players.’

Days before his death on Apr. 16, Benson spoke to a booster club in San Diego, his daughter Paddi Benson Arthur said.

-- David Wharton

Sports Now
David Wharton

David Wharton has filled an array of roles – covering the courts, entertainment, sports and the second Persian Gulf War – since starting as a Los Angeles Times intern in 1982. His work has been honored by organizations such as the Society for Features Journalism and Associated Press Sports Editors and has been anthologized in “Best American Sports Writing.” He has also been nominated for an Emmy and has written two books, including “Conquest,” an inside look at USC football during the Pete Carroll era.

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