De Benneville "Bert" Bell (February 25, 1895 – October 11, 1959) was an American professional football executive and coach. He was the fifth chief executive and second commissioner of the National Football League (NFL) from 1946 until his death in 1959. As commissioner, he introduced competitive parity into the NFL to improve the league's commercial viability and promote its popularity.
Whereas Bell had become the chief executive in a sport that was largely seen as second-rate and heading a league still plagued by franchise instability, by his death the NFL was a financially sound sports enterprise and seriously challenging Major League Baseball for preeminence among sports attractions in the United States. Bell was posthumously inducted into the charter class of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
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.
Early life (1895–1932) Bell was born De Benneville Bell,Didinger with Lyons: 6; cf. Claassen: 163, Yost: 54 on February 25, 1895,MacCambridge: 41; cf. Didinger with Lyons: 6, Rothe: 34, King: 20, Lyons: 1 in Philadelphia to John C. Bell and Fleurette de Benneville Myers.Lyons: 1; cf. Didinger with Lyons: 6 His father was an attorney who served a term as the Pennsylvania Attorney General.Lyons: 3 His older brother, John C. Jr., was born in 1892. Bert's parents were very wealthy,MacCambridge 2005: 41; cf. Lyons: 1–3 and his mother's lineage predated the American Revolutionary War.Lyons: 2 His father, a Quaker of the University of Pennsylvania (class of 1884) during the early days of American football, accompanied him to his first football game when Bell was six years old.Sullivan: 23–24 Thereafter, Bell regularly engaged in football games with childhood friends.Lyons: 3–4.
In 1904, Bell matriculated at the Episcopal Academy, the Delancey School from 1909 to 1911 and then the Haverford School until 1914. About this time, his father was installed as athletics director at Penn and helped form the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).Lyons: 2–3, 5. At Haverford, Bell captained the school's football, basketball, and baseball teams,Lyons: 4; cf. King: 21. and "was awarded The Yale Cup [for being] 'The pupil who has done the most to promote athletics in the school.'" Although he excelled at baseball, his devotion was to football.Lyons: 5 His father, who was named a trustee at Penn in 1911,Marquis: 286 said of Bell's plans for college, "Bert will go to Penn or he will go to hell."
University of Pennsylvania (1914–1919)
Bell entered the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia in the fall of 1914. He majored in English and joined the Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity.Lyons: 5–7Rothe: 34 In a rare accomplishment for a sophomore, he was named the starting quarterback by Penn coach George H. Brooke. He also was a defender, punter, and punt returner. After the team's 3–0 start, Bell temporarily shared possession of his quarterbacking duties until he subsequently reclaimed them later in the season,Lyons: 6–7 as Penn finished with a record of 3–5–2.MacCambridge 2009: 1080
Prior to Penn's 1916 season, Bell's mother died while he was en route to her bedside.Lyons:7-8 He started the first game for the Quakers under new coach Bob Folwell, but mixed results left him platooned for the rest of the season. Penn finished with a record of 7–2–1. However, the Quakers secured an invitation to the 1917 Rose Bowl against the Oregon Ducks.King: 21; cf. Lyons: 9 Bell had the best offensive gain for Penn during their 0–14 loss to Oregon, a 20-yard run, but was replaced late in the game at quarterback after throwing an interception.Lyons: 10 In the 1917 season, Bell led Penn to a 9–2 record.
Following the 1917 season, Bell registered with a Mobile Hospital Unit of the United States Army for World War I and was deployed to France in May 1918.Lyons: 11–15 As a result of his unit participating in hazardous duty, it received a congratulatory letter for bravery from General John J. Pershing, and Bell was promoted to first sergeant.Lyons: 16–20. After the war, Bell returned to the United States in March 1919. He returned to Penn as captain of the team in the fall and again performed erratically. The Quakers finished 1919 with a 6–2–1 record. Academically, his aversion to attending classes forced him to withdraw from Penn without a degree in early 1920.; cf. Lyons: 20–21, MacCambridge 2005: 42, Willis: 310–311 His collegiate days ended with his having been a borderline All-American,Lyons: 20; cf. Umphlett: 143–144 but this period of his life had proven that he "possessed the qualities of a leader."; cf. Colleges Already Preparing for Football by Cleaning Out Cash Registers and Polishing Up Stars
Early career (1920–1932) Bell assembled the Stanley Professionals in Chicago in 1920, but he disbanded it prior to playing any games because of negative publicity received by Chicago due to the Black Sox Scandal.; cf. Stanley Football Team Disbands He joined John Heisman's staff at Penn as an assistant coach in 1920, where he remained for several years.Lyons: 22–23. At Penn, he was well regarded as a football coach, and after its 1924 season, he drew offers for, but declined, head-coaching assignments at other universities. At least as early as 1926, his avocation was socializingLyons: 23–29 and frequenting Saratoga Race Course, where he counted as friends Tim Mara, Art Rooney, and George Preston Marshall.Lyons writes, against all common sense, it was Jack Mara, Tim's son, as the person he befriended. Lyons: 23, 29 In 1928, Bell tendered his resignation at Penn in protest over the emphasis on in-season scrimmages during practices by Lud Wray, a fellow assistant coach.Lyons: 25–27 Bell's resignation was accommodated prior to the start of the 1929 season.
Bell was then an employee of the Ritz-Carlton in Philadelphia. At one point, he tried his hand as a stock broker and lost $50,000 () during the Wall Street Crash of 1929.Lyons: 30–32 His father bailed him out of his deprivation, and he returned to working at the Ritz. From 1930 until 1932, he was a backfield coach for Temple in Philadelphia.; cf. Rothe: 34, Lyons: 28, Willis: 310 In 1932, Marshall tried to coax Bell into buying the rights to an NFL franchise, but Bell disparaged the league and ridiculed the idea.Lyons: 49 When Pop Warner was hired to coach Temple for the 1933 season, Warner chose to hire his own assistants, and Bell was let go by Temple.Lyons: 28; cf. MacCambridge 2009: 1081
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. After being advised by the NFL that a prerequisite to a franchise being rendered in Philadelphia was that the Pennsylvania 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 in lobbying to getting the laws deprecated. He borrowed funds from Frances Upton, partnered with Wray,Lyons: 46–47; cf. Claassen: 336, MacCambridge 2005: 42, Peterson: 112, Westcott: 101 and he procured the rights to a franchise in Philadelphia, purchasing the Frankford Yellow Jackets which he christened as the Philadelphia Eagles, inspired by Franklin Delano Roosevelt's use of the American eagle symbol in choosing that name.Lyons: 47; cf. MacCambridge 2005: 42
After the inaugural 1933 Philadelphia Eagles season,Willis: 310–311; cf. Coenen: 237, Didinger with Lyons: 255 Bell married Upton at St. Madeleine Sophie Roman Catholic Church in Philadelphia.Lyons: 33–38, 41. Days later, his suggestion to bestow the winner of the NFL championship game with the Ed Thorp Memorial Trophy was affirmed.Willis: 327–328 In 1934, the Eagles finished with a 4–7 record,Didinger with Lyons: 255 The Eagles' inability to seriously challenge other teams made it difficult to sell tickets,Lyons: 54 and his failure to sign a talented college prospectLyons: 56; cf. MacCambridge 2005: 43 led him to adduce that the only way to bring stability to the league was to institute a draft to ensure the weakest teams had an advantage in signing the preeminent players.Peterson: 119; cf. Williams: 41 In 1935, his proposal for a draft was accepted,Willis: 341–343; cf. Lyons: 57–58, DeVito: 84, Didinger with Lyons: 256 and in February 1936, the first draft kicked off, at which he acted as Master of Ceremonies.Williams: 41–42; cf. Peterson: 119 Later that month, his first child, Bert Jr., was born.Lyons: 60
In the Eagles' first three years, the partners exhausted $85,000 (),MacCambridge 2005: 43; cf. Lyons: 63 and at a public auction, Bell became sole owner of the Eagles with a bid of $4,500 ().MacCambridge 2005: 43; cf. Claassen: 335, Lyons: 63 Austerity measures forced him to supplant Wray as head coach of the Eagles,Lyons: 63; cf. Claassen: 342 wherein Bell led the Eagles to a 1–11 finish, their worst record ever.;Didinger with Lyons: 256 In December, an application for a franchise in Los Angeles was obstructed by Bell and Pittsburgh Steelers owner Rooney as they deemed it too far of a distance to travel for games.Willis: 355 During the Eagles' 2–8–1 1937 season,Didinger with Lyons: 257 his second child, John "Upton", was born.Lyons: 70 In the Eagles' first profitable season, 1938, they posted a 5–6 record.Lyons: 72–73. The Eagles finished 1–9–1 in 1939 and 1–10 in 1940.Didinger with Lyons: 258
Pittsburgh Steelers (1940–1945)