Benson was born in Sandy, Utah and graduated from Jordan High School. In 1973, he received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Brigham Young University (BYU) and a Juris Doctor as a member of the charter class of the J. Reuben Clark Law School at BYU in 1976. That year he also played professional soccer with the Utah Golden Spikers of the American Soccer League. He later stated that it made him "realize that I didn't have a future in professional soccer."