Upton Bell - Football Executive

Football Executive

Bell's first job in football was as a $65-a-week dressing room attendant for the Baltimore Colts in 1960. After working in the Colts' scouting department, Bell became the club's personnel director. His job included working in sales, publicity, marketing and with the NFL draft. During his early days with the Colts, his brother Bert Bell, Jr. was the team's business manager. His responsibilities included scouting and negotiating contracts with and signing of all college recruits. During Bell's tenure, the Colts were in one NFL Championship game and two Super Bowl Games, winning Super Bowl V in 1971 under new Head Coach Don McCafferty. Seventeen of the 40-man roster on that winning team were players drafted during Upton's stint as Personnel Director. Bell held the personnel director's job until he was hired to become the General Manager of the New England Patriots (then known as the Bay State Patriots) in 1971.

At 33, Bell was the NFL's youngest General Manager. One of his first moves with the Patriots was drafting Jim Plunkett with the first overall pick in that year's draft. Under his leadership the Patriots improved from 2-12 to 6-8. Despite the improvement, Bell wanted to fire head coach John Mazur and hire a coach of his own choosing. The team's board of directors agreed that if the Pats lost to the Baltimore Colts, Mazur would be fired. Jim Plunkett landed an 88-yard pass to Randy Vataha for a 21-17 Patriots win. The Patriots finished the following season with a 3-11 record and Bell was fired on December 5.

Bell returned to professional football in 1974 with the purchase of the New York Stars. Bell relocated the team to Charlotte, North Carolina where the team was renamed the Charlotte Hornets. This venture would be short-lived due to the folding of the World Football League in 1975. One of Bell's co-owners was Arnold Palmer.