Alvin Bell

Alvin Bell was born October 1, 1901, in Little Rock, Arkansas, to William Euclid Bell and Josephine Kirst.[2]

Bell won 14 letters at Little Rock High School.[3] He set a then record with 8 touchdowns in a game in 1919.[4] Bell went to Vanderbilt University. His best sport was basketball, where he was selected All-Southern.[3] Bell was a starter the first time Vanderbilt met Tennessee in basketball in 1922.[5] He was said to have "played a hard floor game and started most of Vanderbilt's rallies." Bell also was captain for the 1923–24 team coached by Josh Cody and featuring Lynn Bomar and Gil Reese.[6] That team was beaten in the Southern Conference tournament in the quarterfinals by the eventual champion, Jack Cobb and Cartwright Carmichael led North Carolina, 37–20.[7] On the football team he was the backup quarterback to Doc Kuhn. At Vanderbilt, Bell was a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity.[8]

Bell worked mainly in the Southwest Conference and Southeastern Conference, being referee-in-chief of both.[8] He officiated in four Sugar Bowl games, three Cotton Bowl games, one Orange Bowl, and eight Blue–Gray Games; and the 1936 U.S. Olympic basketball trials.[3][8] Bell was inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame posthumously in 1978.[3]