Chuck Benson
Chuck Benson returns for his second season as the Official "Voice" of the Wranglers. Chuck brings 30 years of play by play experience to the Wranglers program. Originally from Kansas and Nebraska, Chuck found himself in Alaska after Junior college and a stint in the Army. While working as a staff announcer for Northern Television’s Fairbanks facility(both radio and TV)he was forced into doing play by play by the firing of a predecessor. He began with high school basketball and football and soon became the basketball voice of the University of Alaska, Fairbanks for over a decade.
Hockey began in Fairbanks during the construction of the Trans-Alaska pipeline when there was an influx of young men from Minnesota who wanted to continue to play hockey and found sponsor support from the local Teamsters Union. That team evolved into the Fairbanks Goldkings with an indoor hockey arena(a converted WW II airplane hanger with no heat). The Goldkings were very successful and came looking for radio coverage. Chuck also became the voice of the Goldkings and broadcast several seasons including a trip to national amateur championships in Dearborn, Michigan. The Goldking success spurred the development of hockey in interior Alaska including the U A. F. adding a division III hockey program. Chuck then became the voice of U.A.F Hockey.
Chuck left play by play and Alaska in 1986 and moved his family to Grants Pass. Two years later Chuck became the football and basketball voice of the Grants Pass Cavemen for another 16 years.
Chuck currently lives in Grants Pass, Oregon, and works for Opus Broadcasting in Medford.