Fulfilling His Promises

The NFL Draft is one of the biggest non-sporting sporting events on the American sports calendar. It’s when franchises reload their rosters with what they hope are a bunch of future stars.

The 1963 AFL Draft was one of the best ever for the Kansas City Chiefs. They selected four players who would end up in the team’s Ring of Honor, including Buck Buchanon and Ed Budde in the first round and Jerrel Wilson in the 11th round. But maybe their best pick came in the seventh round, when they selected Bobby Bell from Minnesota.

I believe Bell is the best athlete to ever put on the uniform of the Kansas City Chiefs. He would argue that was not his greatest accomplishment.

That happened more than 50 years after he left college to join the Chiefs for a lengthy career that put him in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. In May 2015, Bell fulfilled a promise to his father when he walked across the stage at the University of Minnesota to receive his degree in recreation, park and leisure studies.

“My dad always said, ‘You’re going to finish up there and get your diploma,’” he said at the time. “I kept saying, ‘Yeah, I’m going to do it.’ But I just kept putting it off. Last year, I said, ‘I’ve got to do it. I’m not going to put if off another minute.’ I wish I had done it a long time ago.”

Bell wasn’t the fastest player in team history, but he was very fast, especially for someone at his position and size. He didn’t have the strongest arm in team history, but he was close, and he wasn’t a quarterback.

He didn’t score the most touchdowns in team history, but he scored plenty, considering he was a defender. He didn’t have the most interceptions, but he didn’t play defensive back. He is also considered one of the greatest long-snappers in college and pro football history.

He probably would have sold the most beer and hot dogs at the games had he had time to put on a vendor’s vest.

Bell excelled in several sports at Cleveland High School in Shelby, N.C. In his first two years at the segregated high school, he played six-man football. He was a halfback in an offense that didn’t have a quarterback. In his junior year, the school converted to playing 11-man football, and Bell played quarterback, earning all-state honors. The city of Shelby hosted Bobby Bell Day in August 2021.

There were limited opportunities for him to play college football, at least close to home, because the Atlantic Coast Conference was not an option for African-Americans at the time. So he attended Minnesota, where he was converted to defensive end. That proved to be a good decision, as Bell was a two-time all-American (1961 and 1962) and won the Outland Trophy as the best interior lineman in college football in 1962.

He also finished third in the Heisman Trophy voting—as a defender—that season. The Gophers were the 1960 national football champions and played in the 1961 Rose Bowl. They also won the 1962 Rose Bowl. Bell was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1991.

He was drafted in the second round (16^th overall) in the 1963 NFL Draft by the Minnesota Vikings, and in the seventh round (56^th overall) by the Chiefs in the 1963 AFL Draft. After some nifty skullduggery by a Chiefs scout, he signed with the AFL’s Chiefs.

The list of accolades in his 12-year career—all with the Chiefs—is the reason he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1983. Here are just a few of those accolades.

He was an AFL All-Star or NFL Pro Bowler for nine consecutive seasons (1964-72) He was on two AFL Championship teams and a Super Bowl championship team. He was named to the All-Time All-AFL Team when that league merged with the NFL in 1970. He was inducted into the Chiefs Hall of Fame in 1980, when the Chiefs retired his uniform number 78. His number also was retired by the University of Minnesota.

In 1999, he was ranked number 66 on The Sporting News’ list of the 100 Greatest Football Players, and he was a member of the National Football League 100th Anniversary All-Time Team in 2019 to honor the greatest players of the first 100 years of the NFL.

He also has a hall of fame sense of humor.

When I interviewed him for my podcast in 2021, I ended the conversation the same way I did all my interviews. I asked him “What’s your legacy?” Many of the people I interviewed talked about being a great teammate, while others talked about their athletic achievements. A few talked about being there for their families.

But Bell had the best answer. He said, “I want to live my life in a way that the preacher doesn’t have to lie at my funeral.”

Now, about those measurables. He probably couldn’t have caught speedsters like Tyreek Hill, but he ran a 4.5 40-yard dash as a 6-foot 4-inch 240-pound defensive end.

He once came upon a gathering of Chiefs quarterbacks who were debating who had the strongest arm. After they had a competition to decide it, Bell calmly said, “I can beat that.” Then he threw it more than 80 yards.

Jan Stenerud, the Chiefs Hall of Fame kicker, once bet him $200 that he couldn’t throw a football over the tower that coach Hank Stram used to watch all of the Chiefs practices. That stood about 100 feet above the ground, and it was 50 yards away. Stenerud had to pay up.

Bell “only” scored nine touchdowns, with eight of them coming on defense. Six of those came on interceptions, tied for the most in NFL history by a linebacker. He also returned two fumbles for touchdowns, and he returned an attempted onside kick on Thanksgiving Day in 1969. He had 26 career interceptions.

“He could play all 22 positions on the field, and play them well,” former Chiefs coach Hank Stram once said.

No one can argue that he didn’t fulfill his God-given promise. But he’s most proud of fulfilling his own promise to his dad.