Alvin Euclid "Pep" Bell (October 1, 1901 – June 1968) was an
American football
American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...
and
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
player, who later was a football
official
An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority, (either their own or that of their ...
for 36 years.
Early years
Alvin Bell was born October 1, 1901, in
Little Rock, Arkansas
(The Little Rock, The "Little Rock")
, government_type = council-manager government, Council-manager
, leader_title = List of mayors of Little Rock, Arkansas, Mayor
, leader_name = Frank Scott Jr.
, leader_ ...
, to William Euclid Bell and Josephine Kirst.
Playing years
Bell won 14
letters
Letter, letters, or literature may refer to:
Characters typeface
* Letter (alphabet), a character representing one or more of the sounds used in speech; any of the symbols of an alphabet.
* Letterform, the graphic form of a letter of the alphabe ...
at
Little Rock High School
Little Rock Central High School (LRCHS) is an accredited comprehensive public high school in Little Rock, Arkansas, United States. The school was the site of forced desegregation in 1957 after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that segregation by ...
.
He set a then record with 8
touchdown
A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Ameri ...
s in a game in 1919. Bell went to
Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...
. His best sport was basketball, where he was selected All-Southern.
Bell was a starter the first time Vanderbilt met
Tennessee
Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...
in basketball in 1922. He was said to have "played a hard floor game and started most of Vanderbilt's rallies." Bell also was
captain
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
for the 1923–24 team coached by
Josh Cody
Joshua Crittenden Cody (June 11, 1892 – June 17, 1961) was an American college athlete, head coach, and athletics director. Cody was a native of Tennessee and an alumnus of Vanderbilt University, where he played several sports. As a versatil ...
and featuring
Lynn Bomar
Robert Lynn Bomar (January 21, 1901 – June 11, 1964) was an American football end in the National Football League (NFL). Bomar played college football, basketball and baseball for Vanderbilt University, following coach Wallace Wade and ...
and
Gil Reese
David Argillus "Gil" Reese (January 14, 1901 – May 30, 1993) nicknamed "The Tupelo Flash" was an American football, basketball, and baseball player for the Vanderbilt Commodores of Vanderbilt University. He was captain of all three his senior ...
. That team was beaten in the
Southern Conference
The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I. Southern Conference football teams compete in the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly ...
tournament in the quarterfinals by the eventual champion,
Jack Cobb and
Cartwright Carmichael
Richard Cartwright "Cart" Carmichael (December 5, 1902December 12, 1960) was a college basketball player. He was the first member of the North Carolina Tar Heels to earn All-America honors in any sport, when he was named to the 1923 first team for ...
led
North Carolina
North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...
, 37–20.
On the football team he was the backup quarterback to
Doc Kuhn. At Vanderbilt, Bell was a member of the
Sigma Alpha Epsilon
Sigma Alpha Epsilon (), commonly known as SAE, is a North American Greek-letter social college fraternity. It was founded at the University of Alabama on March 9, 1856. Of all existing national social fraternities today, Sigma Alpha Epsilon is t ...
fraternity.
Official
Bell worked mainly in the
Southwest Conference
The Southwest Conference (SWC) was an NCAA Division I college athletic conference in the United States that existed from 1914 to 1996. Composed primarily of schools from Texas, at various times the conference included schools from Oklahoma an ...
and
Southeastern Conference
The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...
, being referee-in-chief of both.
He officiated in four
Sugar Bowl
The Sugar Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in New Orleans, Louisiana. Played annually since January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Orange Bowl and Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in the country, surpassed onl ...
games, three
Cotton Bowl games, one
Orange Bowl
The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. It has been played annually since January 1, 1935, making it, along with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl, the second-oldest bowl game in th ...
, and eight
Blue–Gray Games; and the 1936 U.S. Olympic basketball trials.
Bell was inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame posthumously in 1978.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bell, Alvin
1901 births
1968 deaths
American football quarterbacks
Basketball referees
College football officials
Forwards (basketball)
Vanderbilt Commodores football players
Vanderbilt Commodores men's basketball players
Sportspeople from Little Rock, Arkansas
American men's basketball players