Bobby Bell

Bobby Lee Bell Sr. (born June 17, 1940) is an American former professional football player who played linebacker and defensive end for the Kansas City Chiefs in both the American Football League and the National Football League. Born in the segregated city of Shelby, North Carolina, Bell survived a house fire when he was six years old; his mother, Zannie Lee Bell, broke free from those restraining her and crawled into the collapsing family home to pull him to safety, leaving him with a scar on his head for the rest of his life. His father, Pink Lee Bell, worked various jobs at the town's textile mill, which owned the family's home. Bell excelled in several sports at Cleveland High School in Shelby before playing college football for the Minnesota Golden Gophers. He went on to a career with the Chiefs, with whom he played on the team that won Super Bowl IV. The sportswriter Paul Zimmerman described Bell as the first, and the prototype, size-and-speed linebacker. He is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the College Football Hall of Fame, and was named to the NFL 100th Anniversary All-Time Team.