ON 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