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Bert Bell

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Bert Bell
refer to caption
Bell (center) with Washington Redskins owner George Marshall (right) presenting President Harry Truman an annual pass to NFL games in 1949.
Personal information
Born:(1895-02-25)February 25, 1895
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Died:October 11, 1959(1959-10-11) (aged 64)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

De Benneville "Bert" Bell (February 25, 1895 – October 11, 1959) was the National Football League (NFL) commissioner from 1946 until his death in 1959. As commissioner, he introduced competitive balance into the league, in order to enhance the leagues popularity and ameliorate its commercial viability. His passion for the game of football enabled him to chart a path for the NFL to eventually place it as the most popular sports attraction in the United States (US). For his stewardship as commissioner, he was posthumously inducted into the charter class of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Bell played football at the University of Pennsylvania, and as quarterback on the Penn Quakers, he led his team to the 1917 Rose Bowl. He was drafted into the United States Army during World War I before ending his collegiate career at Penn. He became an assistant football coach with the Quakers and the Temple Owls, and then was a co-founder and co-owner of the Philadelphia Eagles. Thereat, his proposal of an NFL draft, to enhance the competitive balance in the league, was instituted into the NFL.

He became part owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers before being elected NFL commissioner in 1946. As commissioner, he enacted an anti-gambling resolution into the NFL to protect the integrity of the game, negotiated the merger of the NFL with the All-America Football Conference (AAFC), introduced competitive balance into the NFL, and modified the rules of the game to enhance it's appeal on television. Amidst criticism from NFL owners, he unilaterally recognized the NFLPA and assisted in negotiating the first pension plan for the players. His life would abide just enough to oversee the playing of the Greatest Game Ever Played.

Early life (1895–1932)

Bell was born de Benneville Bell,[1] on February 25, 1895[2] in Philadelphia to John C. Bell and Fleurette de Benneville Myers.[3] His father was an author[4] and attorney, who served as the Pennsylvania Attorney General. His older brother, John C. Jr., was born in 1892.[5] Bert's parents were very wealthy,[6] and his mother's lineage predated the American Revolutionary War.[7] His father (University of Pennsylvania, C' 1884)[8] played football at Penn and brought him to his first football game when he was six years old. About this time, his father became director of athletics at Penn[9] and helped form the NCAA.[10]

Thereafter, Bell regularly engaged in football games with childhood friends. In 1904 he attended the Episcopal Academy, the Delancey School from 1909 to 1911 and then went to The Haverford School.[11] At Haverford, he captained the school's football, basketball, and baseball teams,[12] and "was awarded The Yale Cup, given to 'The pupil who has done the most to promote athletics in the school.'"[13] Although he excelled at baseball, his passion was football.[14] His father was named trustee at Penn in 1911[15] and said of Bell's plans for college, "Bert will go to Penn or he will go to hell."[10]

University of Pennsylvania (1914–1919)

Bell entered Penn in the fall of 1914,[16] as an English major, and became a member of Phi Kappa Sigma.[17] He became the starting quarterback for the Penn Quakers under coach George H. Brooke in 1915, an unusual occurrence for a sophomore.[16] On the team, he also played as a defender, punter, and punt returner.[18] After a 3–0 start, Bell began sharing quarterbacking duties before he regained the starting quarterback position in the eight game,[19] as Penn finished with a record of 3–5–2.[20]

His mother passed away in late 1916, while he was en route from campus to her bedside. He started the first game of the 1916 season for new coach Bob Folwell. Mixed results caused him to be platooned for the rest of the season.[21] Penn finished the regular season with a record of 7–2–1, 10th seed in the east,[20] and the Quakers accepted an invitation to the 1917 Rose Bowl.[22] Although, the best offensive play for the Quakers was a 20 yard rushing gain by Bell, he was replaced in the game at quarterback after throwing an interception, that led to the final score, Oregon 14, Penn 0.[23] At the time, this game was considered to be the greatest football game ever played on the West Coast.[24]

In the 1917 season, Bell led Penn to a 9–2–0 finish,[20] and afterwards, he was inducted into a Mobile Hospital Unit of the United States Army for World War I and was deployed to France in May 1918. As a result of his unit volunteering for dangerous assignments, it received a congratulatory letter for bravery from General John J. Pershing. He was promoted to top sergeant and, after the war ended, arrived back in New York City in March 1919 with a discharge soon to be.[25] He returned to Penn as captain of the Quakers in the fall and again played erratically.[26] The Quakers finished 1919 with a 6–2–1 record.[20] His collegiate playing days ended, and he was viewed as having been between an above-average player to a borderline All-American candidate,[27] but his devotion to the game made him the unquestionable leader on the team.[28] Off the field, his aversion to attending academic classes led him to leave Penn without a degree in early 1920.[29]

Early career (1920–1932)

Bell became the primary owner of the Stanley Professional independent football team in 1920, but he disbanded the team due to the negative publicity of the Black Sox Scandal.[30] He became a backfield coach for Penn's coach John Heisman in 1920.[31] In 1922, the death of his friend, Tiny Maxwell, led him to help establish a fund to erect a memorial to him.[32] With Heisman, he became well regarded as an assistant coach. After Penn's football season in 1924, he received, but declined, offers for head-coaching positions.[31] As late as sometime in 1926, he spent most of his off time socializing and frequenting Saratoga Race Course every August where he counted among his friends Tim Mara, Art Rooney, and George Preston Marshall.[33] In 1928, Bell tendered his resignation at Penn because he believed fellow assistant coach, Lud Wray, overemphasized in-season scrimmages during practices. His resignation was accepted prior to the start of the 1929 season.[34]

He was a manager of the Ritz-Carlton in Philadelphia, and in 1929, he become a stock broker and managed to lose $50,000 (presently, $887,209) during the Wall Street Crash of 1929. His father bailed him out of his losses, and he returned to working at the Ritz.[35] From 1930 until 1932, he was a backfield coach for Temple University under coach Heinie Miller.[36] When Pop Warner was hired to coach Temple for the 1933 season, Bell was let go.[37] Marshall met Bell in 1932 and tried to coax him into buying the rights to a new NFL franchise, but Bell disparaged the NFL and ridiculed the suggestion.[38]

NFL career

Philadelphia Eagles (1933–1939)

By early 1933, Bell's opinion on the NFL had changed, and he wanted to become an owner.[39] However, the NFL franchises survived on the revenue from ticket sales from games and the only viable time to play the games was on the weekend.[citation needed] Contemporaneously, the Pennsylvania Blue laws implicitly prohibited the NFL from playing it's games in the state on Sundays,[citation needed] and college football games, which were played on Saturdays, were tremendously more popular than NFL games.[40] Consequently, he was told by the president of the NFL, Joe Carr,[citation needed], the prerequisite to a franchise being granted to him in Philadelphia was the Blue laws would have to be changed to permit NFL games to be played on Sundays. Bell subsequently played the primary role in lobbying to getting the laws deprecated.[41]

Bell then needed money to purchase an NFL franchise, but his father would not lend him any money because he disapproved of football as a career.[42] So he borrowed money from Frances Upton, which he used to partner with Wray and others, and bought the rights to play in Philadelphia that the Frankford Yellow Jackets once held.[43] The partners agreed to guarantee the outstanding debt of the Yellow Jackets.[44], paid the league entrance fee, and Bell christened the franchise the Philadelphia Eagles.[45]

He became president of the Eagles[46] in their inaugural 1933 NFL season.[47] After the Eagles 3–5–1 1933 season,[48] he married Upton at St. Madeleine Sophie Roman Catholic Church in Philadelphia.[49]

Prior to the 1934 NFL season, his proposal to have the winner of the NFL championship game be awarded the Ed Thorp Memorial Trophy was accepted by NFL owners,[50] and a de facto racial segregation occurred in the NFL and African Americans would not return to the NFL as players until the 1947 NFL season.[51] In 1934, the Eagles finished their season with a 4–7 record,[48] and the Cincinnati Reds went bankrupt.[52] The Eagles' inability to compete against other teams made it difficult to sell tickets.[53] Furthermore, his failure to sign a college player to a contract[54] led him to believe that the only way to bring competitive parity and financial stability to the NFL was for all teams to have an equal opportunity to sign players by instituting a draft.[55] In 1935, his proposal for a draft was accepted,[56] and in February 1936, the first NFL draft began, at which he acted as Master of Ceremonies.[57] His first child, Bert, Jr. was born later that month.[58]

In their first three years, the Eagles lost $85,000 ($1,866,331),[59] and at a public auction, he became sole owner of the Eagles with a bid of $4,500 ($98,806).[60] Austerity measures forced him to become head coach,[61] wherein he led them to a 1–11 finish, their worst record ever.[62] In December, an application for an NFL franchise in Los Angeles was denied because Bell and Rooney argued it was too far of a distance to travel for games.[63] His second child, John "Upton", was born in October 1937.[64] The Eagles finished the 1937 with a 2–8–1 record,[65] and in their first profitable season, 1938, with a 5–6 record.[66] The Eagles finished 1–9–1 in 1939 and 1–10 in 1940.[67]

Pittsburgh Steelers (1940–1945)

In December 1940, Bell negotiated a sale of Rooney's Pittsburgh Steelers to Alexis Thompson,[68] and then Rooney bought half of Bell's interest in the Philadelphia Eagles.[69] In a series of events known as the Pennsylvania Polka,[70] Rooney and Bell traded their entire Eagles roster and their territorial rights in Philadelphia to Thompson for his entire Steelers roster and his territorial rights in Pittsburgh.[71] Ostensibly, Rooney had provided financial assistance to Bell by granting him a 20% commission on the sale of the Steelers.[72]

In the Steelers' inaugural season, Bell, as head coach,[73] was crestfallen after Rooney denigrated the Steelers during training camp with a phrase that would eventually morph into the "[s]ame old Steelers".[74] After losing the first two games of the 1941 season, Rooney pressured him into resigning as head coach.[75] His coaching career ended with a 10–46–2 record, and for coaches with at least five years in the NFL, it was the worst record ever.[76] His first daughter and last child, Jane Upton, was born several months later.[77]

By 1943, 40% of NFL players had been drafted into the United States Armed Forces because of World War II. This shortage of players could have been, but was not, eradicated by reintegrating the NFL.[78] The resulting scarcity of players led some owners to believe the league should shut down until the war ended, but Bell argued against this action. He believed the league might not be able to jump start itself after the war, and since Major League Baseball was continuing unabated, then the NFL should also.[79]

Throughout his partnership in the Steelers, he suffered financially and Rooney bought an increasing share of the franchise from him.[80] Compounding Bell's problems, Arch Ward created the AAFC in 1944 to compete against the NFL.[81] The AAFC immediately began offering players more lucrative contracts to join its league,[82] which resulted in NFL player salaries being driven up drastically.[83] During his negotiations with the Steelers, "Bullet" Bill Dudley attributed Bell's anxiety over his signing with the Steelers to the NFL's rivalry with the AAFC.[84] Furthermore, by the end of 1945, the Steelers franchise was in its most financially perilous position in its history.[85]

NFL commissioner (1946–1959)

Second NFL commissioner

Elmer Layden was hired as NFL commissioner in 1941, but Ward was viewed as dictating his hiring by NFL owners,[86] and this perceived conflict of interest,[87] among other reasons, led him to getting fired in January 1946.[88] Bell, who was not well respected in Pittsburgh,[89] was elected to become the second[90] NFL commissioner.[91] He accepted a three-year contract at $20,000 ($312,491) per year,[92] and sold his stake in the Steelers to Rooney,[93] albeit for a price he did not believe was full-value.[94] He was then placed at the center of a dispute wherein the owners refused to permit Dan Reeves to transfer the Cleveland Rams to Los Angeles. He helped negotiate a settlement and, as a result, the Los Angeles Rams were created.[95] As a precondition to the Rams leasing the Los Angeles Coliseum, they signed Kenny Washington, which ended racial segregation in the NFL, but also caused "'all hell to break loose'" among the owners.[96]

Introduction of competitive balance

The drawing up of the NFL schedule had been a perennial source of contention among the NFL owners.[97] Developing a schedule meant dealing with either, owners wanting their teams to play against teams that drew the best crowds, or owners of stronger teams wanting to play the weaker teams early in the season to pad their team's win-loss records.[98] Consequently, the owners in 1946 granted Bell the sole discretion in developing the NFL schedule.[99] He created the schedules so at the start of the season, the weaker teams were pitted against the weaker teams and the stronger teams played against other strong teams. His goal was to augment game attendances by keeping the disparity in team standings to a minimum as deep into the season as possible.[100]

Hapes-Filchock Scandal and introduction of overtime

Before the 1946 Championship game, Bell became aware that Merle Hapes and Frank Filchock of the Giants had been implicated in a bribing scandal.[101] Hapes was suspended by Bell, but Filchock was permitted to play in the game.[102] At an ensuing NFL owner's meeting, Bell was worried he was going to be fired,[103] but he was advised his contract was extended to five years at $30,000 per year.[104] At the same meeting, he persuaded the owners to introduce sudden-death overtime into the playoffs.[105] Subsequently, he wrote an anti-gambling resolution into the league constitution[106] which gave him the ability to permanently ban any player for betting on a game, or for withholding information on a game being possibly fixed.[107] He put employees on retainer to investigate potential betting scams,[108] and to prevent gamblers from getting inside information, he kept the names of officials he would assign to games secret[103] and mandated each team publish an injury report prior to each game, which listed the players who may not, or could not, play.[109] He eventually lobbied to get every state in the US with an NFL franchise to criminalize the fixing of games.[110]

AAFC-NFL merger, Radovich, and television broadcast rights

The competition between the NFL and the AAFC caused tremendous pressures on salaries,[111] attendance,[112] and marketing.[113] Consequently, after the end of 1948 NFL season, the NFL had not shown a league wide profit for three years.[114] Bell and representatives from both leagues met to attempt a merger, but they were unsuccessful.[115] At an ensuing NFL meeting, he informed the owners that attendance records had shown televising games locally had a negative impact on the sale of home tickets.[116] Nevertheless, he negotiated the first television contract for the NFL[117]—the 1949 NFL Championship Game.[118] Concurrently, he dealt with a lawsuit from Bill Radovich, who had been blacklisted by the NFL for leaving the Lions and then playing in the AAFC.[119] Bell and the owners were advised by John C. that the lawsuit was potentially not winnable, and the outcome of the case weighed heavily on Bell.[120]

The primary obstacle in an AAFC-NFL merger was in making the requests of Paul Brown amenable to the NFL owners.[121] Bell gathered support enough from the NFL owners to effectuate a compromise with the AAFC.[122] In December 1949, the leagues merged and he would stay on as commissioner, and three AAFC teams, (the Cleveland Browns, the San Francisco 49ers, and Baltimore Colts), would be incorporated into the NFL.[123] Throughout the merger negotiations, he was viewed as treating the AAFC fairly.[124] His contract was changed again from a five-year to a 10-year pact at the same salary,[125] and he bought his first house in Narberth, Pennsylvania.[94] Seeking to capitalize on the publicity of the rivalry between the AAFC and the NFL, he utilized "exquisite dramatic" and business sense and scheduled the 1949 NFL champion Eagles against the perennial AAFC champion Browns in the 1950 season opener.[126]

Blackout policy and introduction of TV revenue sharing (1950–1953)

By the beginning of 1950, the NFL mandated home games had to be blacked out within a 75 mile radius of the home stadium for the 1950 NFL season, except for the Rams.[127] Consequently, the Rams attendance dropped off by almost 50%,[128] and this signaled a potential financial disaster for the NFL.[129] As a result of this blackout policy, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) opened an investigation into a violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act.[130] Subsequently in early 1951, he pushed through a motion that teams could still televise their home games and he negotiated a TV contract with the DuMont Television Network to televise the NFL championship games for the next five years.[131] However, prior to the start of the 1951 NFL season, he reimposed the blackout rule.[132]

The DOJ filed suit over his blackout rules and Bell retorted, "You can't give fans a game for free on TV and also expect them to go to the ballpark". The suit was ordered to trial for January 1952.[133] After the season ended, he gained control over the setting of television policy for the entire NFL,[134] and negotiated a deal with DuMont granting them the rights to nationally broadcast certain regular season games,[135] and he shared this revenue from the contract equally among all the teams.[136] In the DOJ's case against the NFL's television policy, the judge ruled in November that the blackout policy was legal, but Bell, or the NFL franchises collectively, were forbidden to negotiate a TV contract;[137] Bell was ecstatic.[138] Later that year, Bell forced one of the owners of the Cleveland Browns to sell all of his shares in the team because he was found to have been betting on Browns' football games.[139] Although he hated to fly,[140] at some indeterminate point, he began visiting the training camps of every team and lectured the players on the danger gamblers posed to the league.[141]

Marketing of the NFL (1953–1956)

Bell's focus was to showcase the NFL's best assets—the players. As a result, he mandated the Pro Bowl be played at the end of each season.[142] But in the early 1950s, play sometimes denigrated to borderline assault and battery[143] with players trying to take out opposing teams star players.[144] He answered charges the league had dirty players by saying, "'I have never seen a maliciously dirty football player in my life and I don't believe there are any...in the NFL.'"[145] Nevertheless, he ordered broadcasts to follow a strict rule of conduct whereby TV announcers would not be permitted to criticize the game, and neither fights, nor injuries, could be televised. He believed announcers were "'salesman for professional football [and] we do not want kids believing that engaging in fights is the way to play football.'"[146]

He was criticized for censoring TV broadcasts, a charge he dismissed as not pertinent because he was advertising a product and was not impeding the print media.[147] After CBS and NBC gained the rights to broadcast NFL games in 1956,[148] he advised the franchises to avoid criticizing the games or the officials, and furthermore advised that TV would give "'us our greatest opportunity to sell the NFL and everyone must present to the public the greatest games...combined with the finest sportsmanship.'"[149] This relationship with television was the beginning of the NFL's rise to becoming America's most popular sport.[150]

NFL player's union movement (1956–1957)

In Radovich v. National Football League, the Supreme Court ruled in Radovich's favor and declared the NFL was subject to antitrust laws,[151], and the implication was that that legality of the NFL's draft and reserve clause were dubious.[152] He pressed a case in the media for the NFL being granted an exemption from antitrust regulations, registered himself as a lobbyist, said the NFL was a sport and not a business,[153] and declared he was open to an investigation from Congress.[154] Chaired by Emanuel Celler, who believed that the the NFL draft was illegal and should be abolished, the House Judiciary committee met in July 1957.[155] Red Grange and Bell testified before the committee and argued the draft was essential to the popularity of the NFL.[156] Representatives of the NFLPA contradicted these statements and said the draft and the reserve clause were anti-labor, and it appeared as if Congress was going to revoke the NFL's implementation of the draft. Faced with Congress becoming more intimately involved with the running of the NFL, he formally recognized the NFLPA and declared he would negotiate with it. His decision was a "master stroke" in thwarting Congress.[157]

However, Bell was speaking only for himself, with no formal consent from the owners.[158] At an ensuing NFL meeting, Rooney explained that the owners had to recognize the NFLPA or else Bell would have to be removed as commissioner.[159] In order for the owners to formally recognize the NFLPA, they had to agree in a vote that required a super-majority.[160] After Bell persuaded Carroll Rosenbloom to join him in recognizing the NFLPA,[158] Bell was still unable to obtain acknowledgement of the NFLPA as a bargaining agent for the players, but he was able to get the owners to acquiesce to some of the NFLPA's requests for salary standards and health benefits.[161]

The greatest game ever played and final days (1958–1959)

For the 1958 season, the durations of timeouts was increased from 60 to 90 seconds[162] and he created a new rule which instructed referees to call a few TV timeouts during each game—a change which brought criticism from sportswriters.[163] The 1958 NFL Championship Game became the first NFL championship game decided in overtime.[164] and was believed to be the greatest football ever played.[165] The game further increased football's marketability to television advertising, that had begun after the Giants had won the 1956 NFL Championship Game,[166] and the drama associated with the sudden-death overtime was the catalyst.[167] Years later, after witnessing Bell openly crying after the game, Raymond Berry attributed it to Bell's immediate understanding of the impact the game would have on the popularity of the sport.[168]

The death of Tim Mara in February 1959 unsettled Bell, who suffered a heart attack that month.[169] Bell converted to Catholicism in the summer of 1959 because of the lifelong urging of his wife,[110] Mara's death, and his enduring friendship with Rooney,[170] a practicing Catholic.[171] Bell had been advised by his doctor to avoid going to football games, to which he quipped, "I'd rather die watching football than in my bed with my boots off."[169]

Death and funeral (1959)

Bell and his children attended an Eagles game at Franklin Field on October 11. The Eagles held complimentary box seats for Bell and guests to watch the game, but he preferred to buy his own tickets and sit with the other fans.[172] Sitting behind the end zone during the fourth quarter of the game, he suffered a heart attack and died later that day at age sixty-four.[173] His funeral was held at Narberth's St. Margaret Roman Catholic Church. Dignitaries, close friends, and admirers attended the mass as Monsignor Cornelius P. Brennan delivered the eulogy. Among the many floral arrangements placed at his funeral mass was one presented by members of the NFLPA.[174] Dominic Olejniczak and all the owners of the NFL franchises were pallbearers.[175] He was interred at Cavalry Cemetery in West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania.[176]

Legacy and honors

On September 7, 1963, Bell was in the first enshrinement class for the Professional Football Hall of Fame and the Bert Bell Benefit Bowl was played from 1960 through 1969.[177] He was inducted into the Penn Athletics Hall of Fame,[178] the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame,[179] and Haverford's Athletic Hall of Fame.[13] The Maxwell Football Club, which he founded in 1937,[180] has presented the best NFL player of the year with the Bert Bell Award since 1959.[181]

Bell was viewed as ensuring the owners treated the players fairly.[182] After negotiating a pension plan in 1959, little progress was made between the NFLPA and the NFL,[183][184] and the first NFL players' pension plan, the Bert Bell National Football League Retirement Plan, was approved posthumously.[185] As an owner of an NFL team, he never had an African American player on any of his teams, but Bert Jr. believed the mere discussion of whether his father was prejudiced was ridiculous.[110]

Bell was "a man of buoyant joviality, with a rough and ready wit, laughter and genuine humility and honesty, clearly innocent of pretense and [pretension]."[186] His ability to mediate disputes between owners was unequaled in the history of the NFL.[187] Rooney believed one of the best things the owners ever did was to let Bell make up the schedule.[188] Bell's handling of the NFL's merger with the AAFC was viewed as a personal triumph.[189] Although he was not completely successful in preventing players or owners from betting on games,[190] he was proactive in ensuring games were not tampered with by gamblers,[191] and he created the foundation of the NFL anti-gambling policy that continues to this day.[192]

Bell was criticized as being too strict with his blackout policy when he refused to let sold-out games to be televised locally.[193] Nevertheless, his balancing of television broadcasts against protecting game attendance during the 1950s had left professional football as the "healthiest professional sport in America" at the time of his passing,[103] and he was the "leading protagonist in pro football's evolution into America's major sport."[194] He had understood that the NFL needed a cooperative television contract with revenue-sharing, but he was never able to overcome the obstacles to achieve it.[195]

Bell's implementation of the draft did not show immediate results as win-loss records of perennial losing teams did not improve until 1947,[196] but it was "the single greatest contributor to the NFL's prosperity" in the its first eighty-four years.[197] His rationale for creating the NFL draft, to make the league more competitive, was "hailed by contemporaries and sports historians as a move that made the NFL more [popular]".[198] He had often said, "On any given Sunday, any team in our league can beat any other team."[199]

See also

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.[200]
  • Bell, Bert (1957). The Story of Professional Football in Summary. Bala Cynwyd, PA: National Football League.

References

  1. ^ Didinger and Lyons: 6; cf. Claassen 163, Yost: 54
  2. ^ MacCambridge: 41; cf. Didinger and Lyons: 6, Rothe: 34, King: 20, Lyons: 1
  3. ^ Lyons: 1; cf. Didinger with Lyons: 6
  4. ^ cf. Lyons: 2, Yost: 67
  5. ^ Lyons: 3
  6. ^ MacCambridge 2005: 41; cf. Lyons: 1–3
  7. ^ Lyons: 2
  8. ^ "PENN FOOTBALL: ORIGINS TO 1901".
  9. ^ Sullivan: 23–24
  10. ^ a b Lyons: 2–3, 5.
  11. ^ Lyons: 3–4.
  12. ^ Lyons: 4; cf. King: 21.
  13. ^ a b "Bert Bell heads Haverford School Hall of Fame induction class". Main Line Times. Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame Foundation. 14 March 2010. Archived from the original on 14 July 2012.
  14. ^ Lyons: 5
  15. ^ Marquis: 286
  16. ^ a b Lyons: 5–7
  17. ^ Rothe: 34
  18. ^ Zeitlin, Dave (July 28, 2009). "The Man Who Modernized Pro Football".
  19. ^ Lyons: 6–7
  20. ^ a b c d MacCambridge 2009: 1080
  21. ^ Lyons: 7–8
  22. ^ King: 21; cf. Lyons: 9
  23. ^ Lyons: 10
  24. ^ Hibner: 25
  25. ^ Lyons: 11–15
  26. ^ Lyons: 16–20.
  27. ^ Lyons: 20; cf. Umphlett: 143–144
  28. ^ "How Did it Strike You". Evening Public Ledger. 1922-11-17. p. 30.; cf. Colleges Already Preparing for Football by Cleaning Out Cash Registers and Polishing Up Stars
  29. ^ "All American Selection Quits Quaker College". New-York Tribune. 1920-01-13. p. 12.; cf. Lyons: 20–21, MacCambridge 2005: 42, Willis: 310–311
  30. ^ "Widespread Baseball Probe Harmful for Pro Grid Sport; Bell Disbands Local Eleven". Evening Public Ledger. 1920-10-05. p. 18.; cf. Stanley Football Team Disbands
  31. ^ a b Lyons: 22–23.
  32. ^ Grantland Rice (1922-09-07). "The Sportlight". New-York Tribune. p. 10.; cf. Plan Memorial to Maxwell
  33. ^ Lyons writes, against all common sense, it was Jack Mara, Tim's son, as the person he befriended. Lyons: 23, 29
  34. ^ Lyons: 25–27
  35. ^ Lyons: 30–32
  36. ^ "Bell Signed by Temple". The New York Times. 1929-12-04. p. 42.; cf. Rothe: 34, Lyons: 28, Willis: 310
  37. ^ Lyons: 28; cf. MacCambridge 2009: 1081
  38. ^ Lyons: 49.
  39. ^ Ruck; Patterson and Weber: 56, 95.
  40. ^ Ruck; Patterson and Weber: 56, 95.
  41. ^ Westcott: 101; cf. Willis: 303–304, Algeo: 13–15, Ruck; Patterson, and Weber: 95
  42. ^ Rooney; Halaas and Masich: 28
  43. ^ Lyons: 46–47; cf. Claassen: 336, MacCambridge 2005: 42, Peterson: 112, Westcott: 101
  44. ^ Lyons writes the debt amounted to $11,000 (presently, $270,679). Lyons: 47; cf. Didinger and Lyons: 5, Peterson: 112–113, Westcott: 102, When the Frankford team folded, the NFL made it a precondition to approving the next NFL franchise in Philadelphia that the new franchise would have to guarantee 25% of Frankford's debt. [1]
  45. ^ Lyons: 47; cf. MacCambridge 2005: 42
  46. ^ Lyons: 48–50
  47. ^ Willis: 310–311; cf. Coenen: 237
  48. ^ a b Didinger; Lyons: 255
  49. ^ Lyons: 33–38, 41.
  50. ^ Willis: 327–328
  51. ^ Levy: 55; cf. Algeo: 38
  52. ^ Gill, Bob. "The St. Louis Gunners" (PDF).
  53. ^ Lyons: 54
  54. ^ Lyons: 56; cf. MacCambridge 2005 43
  55. ^ Peterson: 119; cf. Williams: 41
  56. ^ Willis: 341–343; cf. Lyons: 57–58, DeVito: 84, Didinger and Lyons: 256
  57. ^ Williams: 41–42; cf. Peterson: 119
  58. ^ Lyons: 60
  59. ^ MacCambridge 2005: 43; cf. Lyons: 63
  60. ^ MacCambridge 2005: 43; cf. Claassen: 335, Lyons: 63
  61. ^ Lyons: 63; cf. Claassen: 342
  62. ^ Didinger; Lyons: 256
  63. ^ Willis: 355
  64. ^ Lyons: 70
  65. ^ Didinger; Lyons: 257
  66. ^ Lyons: 72–73.
  67. ^ Didinger; Lyons: 258
  68. ^ Algeo: 16
  69. ^ Ruck; Patterson and Weber: 183–184; cf. Herskowitz: 149, Lyons: 81–82
  70. ^ Algeo: 16
  71. ^ Lyons: 87; Ruck; Patterson and Weber: 187
  72. ^ Ruck; Patterson and Weber: 303; cf. MacCambridge 2005: 45
  73. ^ Lyons: 88; cf. MacCambridge 2005: 45
  74. ^ "Rooney and Bell Views Differ After Early Look at Steelers". August 10, 1941.; cf. Claassen: 247, Lyons: 90, Leblanc: 62
  75. ^ Lyons: 90–91
  76. ^ Ruck; Patterson and Weber: 225; cf. MacCambridge 2005: 45
  77. ^ Lyons: 92
  78. ^ Algeo: 29, 35, 46.
  79. ^ DeVito: 103
  80. ^ Rooney; Halaas and Masich: 71
  81. ^ MacCambridge 2005: 13; cf. Davis 2005: 196–197
  82. ^ Davis 2005: 199; cf. Piascik: 11, Littlewood 166, Staudohar: 56
  83. ^ Ruck; Patterson and Weber: 228; cf. Davis 2005: 200–201
  84. ^ Whittingham: 229
  85. ^ Claassen: 251–252
  86. ^ Littlewood: 133
  87. ^ Littlewood: 157–158
  88. ^ Davis 2005: 199; cf. MacCambridge 2005: 15, Peterson: 159
  89. ^ Ruck; Patterson and Weber: 225; cf. Davis 2005: 201
  90. ^ Williams: 41.
  91. ^ Lyons: 116–117; cf. MacCambridge 2005: 15
  92. ^ "Layden Quits; Bell New Czar". Milwaukee Sentinel. 1946-01-12.
  93. ^ Lyons: 114
  94. ^ a b Lyons: 166–167
  95. ^ MacCambridge 2005: 15–16; cf. Davis 2005: 201–202, Yost: 57–58: Lyons: 117–118
  96. ^ Rathet; Brown: 210
  97. ^ Willis: 302, 303, 308, 371, 383
  98. ^ Yost: 61; cf. Sullivan: 26.
  99. ^ MacCambridge 2005: 40; cf. Maule: 242, Ruck; Patterson and Weber: 248
  100. ^ Sullivan: 26; Ruck; Patterson and Weber: 248
  101. ^ "Merle Hapes, 75, Ex-Giant Fullback". The New York Times. July 21, 1994.; cf. Coenen: 127, Peterson: 159–160, MacCambridge 2005: 48, Pervin: 15, Lyons: 130
  102. ^ Lyons: 130–131; cf. Pervin: 16, Davis 2005 p. 207
  103. ^ a b c Hirschberg, Al (1958-11-23). "He Calls the Signals in Pro Football". The New York Times Magazine. pp. 23+.
  104. ^ Lyons: 129
  105. ^ Lyons: 289; cf. DeVito: 83, Willis: 301, Maule: 242
  106. ^ Lyons: 131–132; cf: Bell Planning Campaign to Kill Gambling
  107. ^ Lyons: 203–204; cf. MacCambridge 2005: 48–49
  108. ^ Yost: 60; cf. Daley: 193
  109. ^ Lyons: 134–135; cf. MacCambridge 2005: 48–49
  110. ^ a b c Lyons: 142
  111. ^ Lyons: 129; cf. Davis 2005: 203–204
  112. ^ Coenen: 125–126
  113. ^ Coenen: 125
  114. ^ Lyons: 171
  115. ^ Piascik: 125; cf. Lyons: 146
  116. ^ Coenen: 154
  117. ^ Ruck; Patterson and Weber: 290
  118. ^ Lyons: 156–157
  119. ^ Lyons and the New York Times incorrectly list Radovich for playing with the Los Angeles Seals. U.S. House Committee III, 1957, pp. 2778–2779; cf. Piascik: 27, Carrol with Gersham, Neft, and Thorn: 1197, Lyons: 154
  120. ^ Lyons: 154–155
  121. ^ Lyons: 151
  122. ^ Davis 2005: 229
  123. ^ Lyons: 150, 163; cf. MacCambridge 2005: 52
  124. ^ Brown with Clary: 194
  125. ^ Lyons: 147
  126. ^ Peterson: 191–192; cf: Brown with Clary: 197
  127. ^ Coenen: 154; cf. Davis 2005: 259–260, 266, 268–269, LaBlanc p. 10.
  128. ^ Peterson: 197; cf. Hessions: 45, MacCambridge 2005: 70
  129. ^ Rader: 86–87
  130. ^ Coenen: 157.
  131. ^ Hall, Dan (1951-05-22). "Hallucinations". St. Petersburg Times. p. 17. [Bell said the] $475,000 [received from the contract] goes into the players' pool.; cf. Pro Football and DuMont Sign a $475,000 TV Pact, MacCambridge 2005: 73, 480, Rader: 86–87; contra: The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Lyons and Patton report the title game receipts were only $75,000 for the 1951 NFL Championship Game. Fans Rush for Tickets to NFL Game, Lyons: 179, Patton: 35
  132. ^ Davis 2005: 271; cf. MacCambridge, 2005: 73
  133. ^ Coenen: 157–158
  134. ^ Rader: 86; cf. Peterson: 197
  135. ^ "Westinghouse to Sponsor Professional TV Football". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. May 14, 1953.; cf. Lyons: 196
  136. ^ Coenen; 156, 162; cf. Lyons: 196
  137. ^ Patton: 55; cf. Peterson: 198, Lyons: 199–200
  138. ^ Rader: 86
  139. ^ Brown with Clary: 230–232
  140. ^ Patton: 48
  141. ^ U.S. House Committee III, 1957, p. 2587; cf. Summerall with Levin: 36–37
  142. ^ Brown with Clary: 214
  143. ^ Ratterman; with Deindorfer: 125
  144. ^ Graham, Otto (October 11, 1954). "Football Is Getting Too Vicious". Sports Illustrated.; cf. Piascik: 155
  145. ^ Maule, Tex (January 21, 1957). "I Don't Believe There Is Dirty Football". Sports Illustrated.
  146. ^ King: 37; cf. I Don't Believe There Is Dirty Football
  147. ^ Lyons: 282
  148. ^ Patton: 37; cf Rader: 87
  149. ^ Maraniss: 168–169
  150. ^ Lomax: 16
  151. ^ Coenen: 182; cf. Ruck; Patterson and Weber: 293
  152. ^ Coenen: 182; cf. Lyons: 255–256
  153. ^ Lyons: 261
  154. ^ "Pro Football Would Welcome Probe, Says NFL Commissioner Bert Bell". The Tuscaloosa News. February 27, 1957. p. 8.
  155. ^ Carroll: 199
  156. ^ U.S. House Committee III, 1957, p. 2596; cf. Carroll: 199
  157. ^ Larsen, Lloyd (August 2, 1957). "Bell's Player Recognition Could be Real Winner for Pro Football". The Milwaukee Sentinel.
  158. ^ a b Rooney; Halaas and Masich: 78
  159. ^ Rooney; Halaas and Masich, 2007, p. 78.
  160. ^ Ruck; Patterson and Weber: 294; cf. U.S. House Committee III, 1957, p. 2580a-2580at
  161. ^ Staudohar, 1986, 63; cf. Oriard: 57
  162. ^ Gifford; with Richmond: 121; cf. Maule: 245
  163. ^ Powers: 84
  164. ^ Gifford uses literary license when he writes "The overtime rule had been instituted for this game..." p. 210 Gifford; with Richmond: 207–208, 210, 214
  165. ^ Maule, Tex (January 19, 1959). "Here's Why It Was The Best Football Game Ever". Sports Illustrated.; cf. Gifford; with Richmond: 230
  166. ^ Patton: 41
  167. ^ Powers: 88; cf. Gifford; with Richmond: 213
  168. ^ Gifford; with Richmond: 229; cf. Greatest Game: Remembering '58 NFL finale, The Man Who Modernized Pro Football
  169. ^ a b Lyons: 308
  170. ^ Ruck; Patterson and Weber: 311
  171. ^ Rooney; Halaas and Masich: 26; cf. Ruck; Patterson, and Weber: 84
  172. ^ Lyons: 275
  173. ^ Bernstein, Ralph (October 12, 1959). "Heart Attack Is Fatal To Bert Bell". Times Daily. Other authors alternately list his age at death (e.g., Ruck p. 313, Lyons p. 306) and his date of death (Lyons p. 306).
  174. ^ Lyons: 312
  175. ^ "Bell Funeral This Morning". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. October 14, 1959.; cf. Lyons: 311–312
  176. ^ Lyons: 311–312
  177. ^ Lyons: 315
  178. ^ "Penn Athletics Hall of Fame". Penn Athletics. Archived from the original on 14 July 2012.
  179. ^ "Inductees". Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame Foundation. Archived from the original on 14 July 2012.
  180. ^ Rooney; Halaas and Masich: 238
  181. ^ Pagano, Robert (1998-05). "Robert 'Tiny' Maxwell" (PDF). College Football Historical Society. I (IV): 1–3. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); cf. Lyons: 314
  182. ^ Riger; with Maule: 9
  183. ^ Berry deprecates the importance of the NFL's agreement to a pension plan with the owners in 1959. Berry; with Gould and Staudohar, 1986, p. 96.
  184. ^ Staudohar writes: "In 1959 the [NFLPA] achieved another breakthrough when it persuaded the owners to provide a pension plan for the players." Staudohar, 1986, p. 63.
  185. ^ "NFL Adopts Pensions for Five Year Vets". Pittsburgh Post Gazette. May 25, 1962.
  186. ^ Red Smith (1959-10-14). "Bell Never Got to Big to Laugh at Himself". Milwaukee Journal. p. 18.
  187. ^ MacCambridge 2005: 39
  188. ^ Paul: 263
  189. ^ MacCambridge 2005; 53
  190. ^ Oriard: 13; cf. Gifford with Richmond: 29, Brown with Clary: 230–232
  191. ^ Lyons: 131–132; cf. MacCambridge 2005: 48–49
  192. ^ Yost: 60–61
  193. ^ "Wonderful World Of Sport". Sports Illustrated. January 6, 1958.; cf. Coenen: 167, Detroit Free Press
  194. ^ Ruck; Patterson and Weber: 222
  195. ^ Patton: 52–53; cf. Herskowitz Spreading the wealth rings a Bell
  196. ^ Coenen: 90; cf. MacCambridge 2005,: 41
  197. ^ Yost: 55
  198. ^ Coenen: 89
  199. ^ Lyons: 287; cf. MacCambridge 2005, 107
  200. ^ Smith: 156

Bibliography

Primary materials

  • Lyons, Robert S. (2010). On Any Given Sunday, A Life of Bert Bell. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. ISBN 978-1-59213-731-2

Secondary materials

  • When Pride Still Mattered, A Life of Vince Lombardi, by David Maraniss, 1999, ISBN 978-0-618-90499-0
  • Organized Professional Team Sports: Part 1. United States House Committee on the Judiciary I, Subcommittee on Antitrust (1957).
  • District Judge Allan Kuhn Grim (1953-11-12). "United States v. National Football League, 116 F. Supp. 319 – Dist. Court, ED Pennsylvania 1953".
  • Organized Professional Team Sports: Part 3. United States House Committee on the Judiciary III, Subcommittee on Antitrust (1957).
  • Algeo, Matthew (2006). Last Team Standing. Philadelphia: Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-0-306-81472-3
  • Berry, Robert C.; with Gould, William B. and Staudohar, Paul D. (1986). Labor Relations in Professional Sports. Dover, MA: Auburn House Pub. Co. ISBN 0-86569-137-1
  • Brown, Paul; with Clary, Jack (1979). PB, the Paul Brown Story. New York: Atheneum.
  • Carroll, Bob; with Gershman, Michael, Neft, David, and Thorn, John (1999). Total Football:The Official Encyclopedia of the National Football League. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 0-06-270174-6
  • Carroll, John M. (1999). Red Grange and the Rise of Modern Football. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0-252-02384-6
  • Claassen, Harold (Spike) (1963). The History of Professional Football. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc.
  • Coenen, Craig R. (2005). From Sandlots to the Super Bowl: The National Football League, 1920–1967. Knoxville, TN: The University of Tennessee Press. ISBN 1-57233-447-9
  • Daley, Arthur (1963). Pro Football's Hall of Fame. New York: Grosset and Dunlap.
  • Danzig, Allison (1956). The History of American Football: Its Great Teams, Players, and Coaches. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc.
  • Davis, Jeff (2005). Papa Bear, The Life and Legacy of George Halas. New York: McGraw-Hill ISBN 0-07-146054-3
  • DeVito, Carlo (2006). Wellington: the Maras, the Giants, and the City of New York. Chicago: Triumph Books. ISBN 978-1-57243-872-9
  • Didinger, Ray; with Lyons, Robert S. (2005). The Eagles Encyclopedia. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. ISBN 1-59213-449-1
  • Gifford, Frank; with Richmond, Peter (2008). The Glory Game: How the 1958 NFL Championship Changed Football Forever. New York: Harper Collins. ISBN 978-0-06-171659-1
  • Herskowitz, Mickey (1990). The Golden Age of Pro Football. Dallas: Taylor Publishing Company. ISBN 0-87833-751-2
  • Hession, Joseph (1987). The Rams: Five Decades of Football. San Francisco: Foghorn Press. ISBN 0935701400
  • Hibner, John Charles (1993). The Rose Bowl, 1902–1929. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc. Publishers. ISBN 0-89950-775-1
  • King, Joe (1958). Inside Pro Football. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc.
  • Layden, Elmer; with Snyder, Ed (1969). It Was a Different Game: The Elmer Layden Story. Englewood Cliffs, NJ:Prentice-Hall, Inc.
  • LaBlanc, Michael L.; with Ruby, Mary K. (1994). Professional Sports Team Histories: Football. Detroit: Gale Research Inc. ISBN 0-8103-8861-8
  • Levy, Alan H. (2003). Tackling Jim Crow, Racial Segregation in Professional Football. Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Co., Inc. ISBN 0-7864-1597-5
  • Littlewood, Thomas B. (1990). Arch: A Promoter, not a Poet: The Story of Arch Ward. Ames, IA: Iowa State University Press. ISBN 0-8138-0277-6
  • Lomax, Michael E. (April 2001). "Conflict and Compromise: The Evolution of American Professional Football's Labour Relations 1957–1966" (PDF). Football Studies. 4 (1): 5–39.
  • MacCambridge, Michael (2005). America's Game. New York: Anchor Books. ISBN 978-0-307-48143-6
  • MacCambridge, Michael (2009). ESPN College Football Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Game. New York: ESPN Books, Inc. ISBN 1-4013-3703-1
  • Marquis, Albert Nelson (1934). Who's Who in America: A Biographical Dictionary of Notable Living Men and Women of the United States, Vol., 18, 1934–1935, Two Years. Chicago: The A. N. Marquis Company.
  • Maule, Tex (1964). The Game; The Official Picture History of the National Football League. New York: Random House
  • Oriard, Michael (2007). Brand NFL: Making and Selling America's Favorite Sport. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 978-0-8078-3142-7
  • Patton, Phil (1984). Razzle-Dazzle: The Curious Marriage of Television and Professional Football. Garden City, NY: The Dial Press. ISBN 0-385-27879-9
  • Paul, William Henry (1974). The Gray-Flannel Pigskin: Movers and Shakers of Pro Football. Philadelphia: Lippincott.
  • Pervin, Lawrence A. (2009). Football's New York Giants. Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Company, Inc. ISBN 978-0-7864-4268-3
  • Peterson, Robert W. (1997). Pigskin: The Early Years of Pro Football. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-507607-9
  • Piascik, Andy (2007). The Best Show in Football: The 1946–1955 Cleveland Browns. Lanham, MD: Taylor Trade Publishing. ISBN 978-1-58979-360-6
  • Powers, Ron (1984). Supertube: The Rise of Television Sports. New York: Coward-McCann. ISBN 0-698-11253-9
  • Rader, Benjamin G. (1984). In its Own Image: How Television Has Transformed Sports. New York: The Free Press. ISBN 0-02-925700-X
  • Rathet, Mike; with Smith, Don R. (1984). Their Deeds and Dogged Faith. New York: Balsam Press. ISBN 0-917439-02-3
  • Ratterman, George; with Deindorfer, Robert G. (1962). Confessions of a Gypsy Quarterback; Inside the Wacky World of Pro Football. New York: Coward-McCann, Inc.
  • Riger, Robert; with Maule, Tex (1960). The Pros. New York: Simon and Schuster.
  • Rooney, Dan; with Halaas, David F. and Masich, Andrew E. (2007). My 75 Years with the Pittsburgh Steelers and the NFL. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-0-7867-2603-5
  • Rothe, Anna; with Prodrick, Elizabeth (1951). "Bert Bell" in Current Biography: Who's News and Why 1950. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company.
  • Ruck, Rob; with Patterson, Maggie Jones and Weber, Michael P. (2010). Rooney: A Sporting Life. Lincoln, NB: University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 978-0-8032-2283-0
  • Smith, Myron J. Jr. (1993). Professional Football: The Official Pro Football Hall of Fame Bibliography. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-28928-X
  • Staudohar, Paul D. (1986). The Sports Industry and Collective Bargaining. Ithaca, NY: ILR Press. ISBN 0-87546-117-4
  • Sullivan, George (1968). Pro Football's All Time Greats. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons.
  • Summerall, Pat; with Levin, Michael (2010). Giants: What I Learned about Life from Vince Lombardi and Tom Landry. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. ISBN 978-0-470-90908-9
  • Umphlett, Wiley Lee (1992). Creating the Big Game: John W. Heisman and the Invention of American Football. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-28404-0
  • Westcott, Rich (2001). A Century of Philadelphia Sports. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. ISBN 1-56639-861-4
  • Whittingham, Richard (2002). What a Game They Played: An Inside Look at the Golden Era of Pro Football. Lincoln, NB: University of Nebraska Press, Inc. ISBN 978-0-8032-9819-4
  • Williams, Pete (2006). The Draft: A Year Inside the NFL's Search for Talent. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 978-0-312-35438-1
  • Willis, Chris (2010). The Man Who Built the National Football League: Joe F. Carr. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, Inc. ISBN 978-0-8108-7669-9
  • Yost, Mark (2006). Tailgating, Sacks and Salary Caps. Chicago: Kaplan Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4195-2600-8

Further reading

  • Lower Merion Historical Society (2000). The first 300 : the amazing and rich history of Lower Merion. Ardmore, Pa. : The Society

External links

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