Born in Clincho, Virginia, on June 12, 1922, John Robert Bell attended Georgia Tech and East Tennessee State University, where he majored in management & economics, before heading on to a distinguished naval career. After graduating from Georgia Tech Naval R.O.T.C. in 1943, Bell served as a deck watch and gunnery officer in World War II. His naval career would last until 1949. Using the skills and values he learned from his stint overseas, Bell began his teaching and coaching careers that same year on the high school level, before becoming offensive line coach at Georgia Tech from 1953 to 1966. In February of 1966, Bell joined ETSU as athletic director and head football coach. The spirit at ETSU was low, but as soon as Bell took over the reigns of Buccaneer athletics, there was a string of prosperous years filled with steady contenders not only in football but in all sports. Bell’s 1966 Buccaneers football team finished in the upper division of the Ohio Valley Conference, and in 1969, they won the championship with an undefeated team and victories in the Grantland Rice Bowl and the NCAA Mid-East Championships. ETSU fans and players will forever be thankful that John Robert Bell’s path led him to their door.
