Career
When he joined the NFL as an official in 1962 from the Southeastern Conference, he was given the referee position, and stayed at that spot until his retirement in 1976. He officiated Super Bowl III in 1969 and Super Bowl VII in 1973. He is also the only official in history to referee in both a Super Bowl and National Collegiate Athletic Association Final Four (1959).
He retired from the NFL following the 1976 AFC Championship Game between the Oakland Raiders and Pittsburgh Steelers, played December 26, 1976, to conclude a fifteen-year career in the league.
His successor as a referee, Jerry Markbreit, was the line judge on Bell"s crew in 1976, Markbreit"s rookie year in the NFL.
In addition to NFL officiating, Bell was an attorney in Lexington, Kentucky. He died of chronic leukemia, aged 63, on February 20, 1986.