Bert Bell

Lore & Background

Bell played football at the University of Pennsylvania, where as quarterback, he led his team to an appearance in the 1917 Rose Bowl. After being drafted into the US Army during World War I, he returned to complete his collegiate career at Penn and went on to become 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 led the way in cooperating with the other NFL owners to establish the NFL draft in order to afford the weakest teams the first opportunity to sign the best available players. He subsequently became sole proprietor of the Eagles, but the franchise suffered financially. Eventually, he sold the team and bought a share in the Pittsburgh Steelers. During World War II, Bell 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 policy, negotiated a merger with the All-America Football Conference (AAFC), and unilaterally crafted the entire league schedule with an emphasis on enhancing 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 policy of blacking out local broadcasts of home contests to safeguard ticket receipts.

Amid criticism from franchise owners and under pressure from Congress, he unilaterally recognized the NFLPA and facilitated in the development of the first pension plan for the players. He survived to oversee the "Greatest Game Ever Played" and to envision what the league would become in the future. As commissioner, Bell oversaw the integration of the NFL. Although Fritz Pollard was the first African American to play in the NFL, appearing with three teams from 1922 to 1926, a "gentleman's agreement" among the owners kept the sport segregated for another 20 years. In 1946, four black players began playing in the NFL.

Reader's Guide

Bell was born De Benneville Bell, on February 25, 1895, in Philadelphia to John C. Bell and Fleurette de Benneville Myers. He entered the University of Pennsylvania in 1914, majored in English, and joined Phi Kappa Sigma. He was named starting quarterback as a sophomore. He led Penn to the 1917 Rose Bowl, where they lost 0–14 to Oregon.

After World War I service, he returned to Penn as team captain in 1919. He withdrew from Penn without a degree in early 1920. He then joined John Heisman's staff at Penn as an assistant coach in 1920, remaining for several years. In 1928, he resigned from Penn in protest over in-season scrimmages.

He worked at the Ritz-Carlton in Philadelphia and lost $50,000 in the Wall Street Crash of 1929. From 1930 to 1932, he was a backfield coach for Temple. In 1933, he partnered with Lud Wray to procure the rights to a franchise in Philadelphia, purchasing the Frankford Yellow Jackets which he christened as the Philadelphia Eagles. After the inaugural 1933 season, he married Frances Upton.

He proposed the Ed Thorp Memorial Trophy for the NFL championship winner. The Eagles' inability to sell tickets led him to advocate for a draft to help the weakest teams.

Did You Know?

• Bell was posthumously inducted into the charter class of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
• Bell's father, John C. Bell, served as Pennsylvania Attorney General.
• Bell was promoted to first sergeant during World War I after his unit received a congratulatory letter from General John J. Pershing.