Winnipeg, Manitoba native Bill Benson spent three seasons with the Winnipeg Monarchs or the Manitoba Junior Hockey League. Born July 29, 1920, Benson joined the National Hockey League twenty years later, singing his first professional contract, with the New York Americans, on October 11th, 1940. Splitting his season equally with the Americans and their farm team, the Springfield Indians, Benson suited up for 22 games in each league. In the NHL, Benson, a centre, scored three goals and four assists. In the minors, he matched his NHL goal output, but added two more assists then he had totalled in the big leagues for nine points.
The following season, Benson spent the entire year with the Americans, suiting up for 45 games and scoring eight goals and 29 points. After his first full campaign in the NHL, the Brooklyn Americans franchise folded and Benson was unable to catch on with another NHL team. He spent the 1942-43 season playing Senior hockey.
Military service interrupted his career for the next two years while Benson served his country. Following the war, Benson returned to professional hockey, but not the NHL. After a season with the Cleveland Barons of the American Hockey League, Benson began a four-year run with the Pittsburgh Hornets, also of the AHL. Benson never produced less then 15-goals in his final four seasons of professional hockey, and he retired following the 1949-50 campaign.
