Upton Bell
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Upton Bell (Born 1938) is a retired American football executive and broadcaster. He is the son of former National Football League commissioner Bert Bell and Broadway actress Frances Upton.
Upton 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' scout department, Bell became the club's personnel director [1]. His job included working in sales, publicity, marketing and with the NFL draft. [2] During his early days with the Colts, his brother Bert Bell, Jr. was the team's business manager. [3] 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. [4] 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. [5] 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 by more than seven points to the Baltimore Colts, Mazur would be fired. To Bell's fury, Jim Plunkett landed an 88-yard pass to Randy Vataha for a 21-17 Patriots win, with Bell screaming for Vataha to botch the play as he ran down to the endzone. The Patriots finished the following season with a 3-11 record and Bell was fired on December 5. [6]
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. [7]
Starting in 1976, Bell began his media career by making guest appearances on programs such as John Sterling's show on WMCA. In 1978 he became co-host of WBZ's "Calling All Sports" with newcomer Bob Lobel. [8] He also hosted of sports talk shows on WBZ Radio, WEEI, WDLW [9], WTAG [10], WHDH Radio WSBK-TV, and WNEV-TV. [11]
As a color commentator, Bell worked on PBS Ivy League football games alongside play-by-play announcer Dick Galiette and sideline reporter Sean McDonough in 1984[12] and Boston College Eagles football radio broadcasts with play-by-play announcers Dan Davis in 1985 and Bob Lobel in 1986. Lobel and Bell were removed from the BC broadcast booth after one season and unsuccessfully sued for "breach of contract, deceit, negligent misrepresentation". [13]
Bell has also worked in general talk radio. He has interviewed George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Henry Kissinger, Ted Kennedy, Geraldine Ferraro, Regis Philbin, Frank McCourt, Jay Leno, Dr. Joyce Brothers, Jackie Mason, Johnny Cochran and Alan Dershowitz. For three consecutive years, the Upton Bell Show was recognized by The Associated Press for Outstanding Talk Show in New England. [14]
Today, Bell appears three days a week on former Congressman Peter Blute's drive-time program on WCRN. [15]
| Preceded by Gino Cappelletti |
Boston College Eagles football color commentator 1985-1986 |
Succeeded by Gino Cappelletti |
