Table Of ContentON ANY GIVEN SUNDAY
A Life of Bert Bell
ON ANY GIVEN SUNDAY
A Life of Bert Bell
Robert S. Lyons
FOREWORD BY DON SHULA
TEMPLE UNIVERSITY PRESS PHILADELPHIA
For more than 35 years, Robert S. Lyons has covered professional and college
sports for the Associated Press and has contributed articles to numerous
national publications. He is the author of Palestra Pandemonium: A History of
the Big Five and co-author (with Ray Didinger) of The Eagles Encyclopedia
(both Temple). He is the former director of the La Salle University News
Bureau, editor of the university’s alumni magazine, and an instructor in the
school’s Communications Department.
Temple University Press
1601 North Broad Street
Philadelphia PA 19122
www .temple. edu/ tempress
Copyright © 2010 by Temple University
All rights reserved
Published 2010
Printed in the United States of America
The paper used in this publication meets the requirements
of the American National Standard for Information Sciences— Permanence
of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48- 1992
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Lyons, Robert S., 1939–
On any given Sunday : a life of Bert Bell / Robert S. Lyons.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-59213-731-2 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Bell, Bert, 1894–1959. 2. Football coaches—Pennsylvania—Philadelphia—Biography.
3. Football commissioners—United States—Biography. 4. Philadelphia Eagles (Football
team)—History. 5. Football coaches. I. Title.
GV939.B455L96 2009
796.332092—dc22
[B] 2009020966
2 4 6 8 9 7 5 3 1
To My Grandchildren,
who are very dear to my heart.
You have enriched my life with warmth and love.
Contents
Foreword by Don Shula ix
Ack now ledg ments xiii
Prologue xv
1. The Early Years 1
2. The Quarterback of the Quakers 6
3. A War Hero Tastes the French Nightlife 12
4. Back to Penn as Captain of the Quakers 16
5. Bert Bell’s Coaching Career Begins 22
6. The Roaring Twenties— Off the Field 29
7. Frances Upton: One of America’s Brightest Stars 33
8. The Yellow Jackets Become the Ea gles 43
9. The Ea gles Struggle under Bell and Wray 48
10. The Player Draft Comes in 1936 56
11. Additional Shock Waves from 1936 63
12. The Struggle to Survive: 1937 to 1939 70
13. Bert Bell and Art Rooney Get Together 79
14. Bert Bell Ends Up in Pittsburgh 85
15. Bracing for World War II 93
16. The Steag les 97
17. The Card-P itts 106
18. The New Commissioner 112
19. Mysterious Negotiations with the AAFC 121
viii • Contents
20. A Gambling Scandal Nipped in the Bud 130
21. Blizzards, Gamblers, and a Rebellious Club Own er 140
22. A Dispute with Walter Annenberg and a Truce with the AAFC 147
23. Buffalo, Dominoes, and Tele vi sion 158
24. Finally a Home of Their Own 166
25. The Dream Game Turns into a Shocker 170
26. Problems with the Federal Government 173
27. “Listen, Sonny, Just Sign the Contract!” 181
28. Baltimore Rises from the Ashes 191
29. More Warfare and the Sermon on the Mount 202
30. Flare-U ps, Pile-U ps, and a Move to Oust the Commissioner 211
31. The Commissioner’s Working Style 223
32. At Home in Narberth 233
33. The NFL Welcomes Bubble Gum Cards and CBS- TV 236
34. “You C an’t Quit Now, Pete Rozelle!” 250
35. The Players Finally Get a Union 261
36. The “Hands-O n” Commissioner 269
37. “On Any Given Sunday . . .” 286
38. “Sudden Death” Finally Arrives 289
39. Anxiety over the AFC, the Pension Plan, and the Pro Bowl 294
40. A Poetic Ending at Franklin Field 306
Epilogue 313
Sources 317
Index 321
Foreword
Don Shula
I
t’s hard to believe that it’s been fi fty years since Bert Bell’s death and
that no one has ever chronicled the life of this remarkable man. For-
tunately, Bob Lyons has fi nally fi lled the void with a fascinating, thor-
oughly researched biography that not only details the accomplishments
of one of the fi nest commissioners in the history of professional sports
but also offers a unique glimpse into a long-f orgotten era of the National
Football League.
I didn’t know Bert Bell that well, but I certainly admired and respected
him when I was a player in the NFL from 1951 to 1957 and later as a
young coach. Every year we played a preseason game in Hershey, Pennsyl-
vania, and my fi rst memory of him was when he came up and talked to
our squad. I was all eyes and ears at that time and he certainly made quite
an impression. It was mostly about the integrity of the game. He always
stressed playing within the rules and doing it the right way— lessons that
I followed later when I spent many years on the Competition Committee.
Ever since my coaching days, I’ve had a great association with the Bell
family. His sons, Bert Jr. and Upton, worked for me, and when I got the job
in Baltimore, Bert picked me up at the airport and took me into the Colts’
offi ces for the fi rst time. Later, I got to spend a lot of time with both boys. I
put Upton into the Colts’ scouting department and made him director of
pro scouting.
We don’t realize how much Bert Bell did for professional football. He
saved the league from bankruptcy by conceiving the concept for a player
draft— a great idea that paved the way for colleges preparing athletes to
play in the NFL at no cost to the league. In addition to describing for the
fi rst time how Bert sold this idea to the reluctant club own ers, Bob Lyons
recounts in colorful detail the background behind some of his other ex-
citing innovations like sudden- death overtime. He also tells how Bell
carefully developed the use of tele vi sion, masterfully cultivated members of
Congress when the federal government was trying desperately to nail the
