Bert Bell

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Bert Bell bigraphy, stories - American football player, coach, executive

Bert Bell : biography

February 25, 1895 – October 11, 1959

De Benneville "Bert" Bell (February 25, 1895 – October 11, 1959) was the National Football League (NFL) commissioner from 1945 until his death in 1959. As commissioner, he introduced competitive parity into the NFL to ameliorate the league’s commercial viability and enhance its popularity, and he assisted in making the NFL the most financially sound sport’s enterprise, and the dominant sports attraction, in the United States (US). He was posthumously enshrined into the charter class of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Bell played football at the University of Pennsylvania, and as quarterback for the Quakers, he led his team to an appearance in the 1917 Rose Bowl. He was drafted into the US Army during World War I before ending his collegiate days at Penn and becoming an assistant football coach with the Quakers in the 1920s. During the Great Depression, he was an assistant coach for the Temple Owls and a co-founder and co-owner of the Philadelphia Eagles.

With the Eagles, Bell convinced the other NFL owners to establish the National Football League Draft in order to afford the weakest teams the first opportunity to sign the best available players. He subsequently became the sole proprietor of the Eagles, but the franchise suffered financially. Eventually, he sold the Eagles and bought a stake in the Pittsburgh Steelers. During World War II, Bell auspiciously argued against the league suspending operations until the war’s conclusion.

After the war, he was elected NFL commissioner and sold his ownership in the Steelers. As commissioner, he implemented a proactive anti-gambling agenda, negotiated a merger with the All-America Football Conference (AAFC), and unilaterally crafted the entire league schedule with an emphasis on augmenting the dramatic effect of late season matches. During the Golden Age of Television, he tailored the game’s rules to strengthen its appeal to mass media, and enforced a blackout policy of locally televised home contests to safeguard ticket receipts. Amidst criticism from franchise owners and under pressure from Congress, he unilaterally recognized the NFLPA and facilitated in the composing of the first pension plan for the players. His life would abide to oversee the "Greatest Game Ever Played" and to envision what the league would become in the future.

Published works

  • Bell, Bert, "The Money Game." Liberty Magazine, XIII (November 28, 1936), pp. 59–60.
  • Bell, Bert, "Offensive Football." Popular Football, (Winter 1941), p. 111.
  • Bell, Bert, "This is Commissioner Bell Speaking." Pro Football Illustrated, XII (1952), pp. 60–63.
  • Bell, Bert; with Martin, Paul, "Do the Gamblers Make a Sucker Out of You?." Saturday Evening Post, CCXXI (November 6, 1948), p. 28.
  • Bell, Bert; with Pollock, Ed, "Let’s Throw Out the Extra Point." Sport, XV (October 1953), p. 24–25.Smith: 156
  • Bell, Bert (1957). The Story of Professional Football in Summary. Bala Cynwyd, PA: National Football League.

NFL career

Philadelphia Eagles (1933–1940)

By early 1933, Bell’s opinion on the NFL had changed, and he wanted to become an owner of a team based in Philadelphia.Ruck; Patterson and Weber: 56, 95. However, college football games were provisioned for Saturdays, attracted a far greater attendance than NFL games, and the Pennsylvania Blue Laws prohibited the patronizing of professional football on Sundays.Westcott: 101; cf. Willis: 303–304, Algeo: 13–15, Ruck; Patterson, and Weber: 95 After being advised a prerequisite to a franchise being rendered in Philadelphia was that the blue laws would have to be mollified,Westcott: 101; cf. Willis: 303–304, Algeo: 13–15, Ruck; Patterson, and Weber: 95 he was the force majeure to getting the laws deprecated. He was then informed that any new franchise in Philadelphia would have to reimburse the arrears owed by the Frankford Yellow Jackets. Bell, thereabouts, partnered with Wray,Lyons: 46–47; cf. Claassen: 336, MacCambridge 2005: 42, Peterson: 112, Westcott: 101 and they conceded to guarantee Frankford’s debt.Rooney; Halaas and Masich: 28 However, they needed more capital to pay the league entrance fee, pay off the debt of the Yellow Jackets, and assemble a team. Bell attempted to persuade his father to lend him money, but his father deplored football as a livelihood and would not abet him. Consequently, Bell borrowed funds from Frances Upton, and he procured the rights to a franchise in Philadelphia, became its president,Lyons: 48–50 and christened the team the Philadelphia EaglesLyons: 47; cf. MacCambridge 2005: 42