King Steagle

Bert Bell died on this day 47 years ago – October 11, 1959. That's him up there on the right with Davey O'Brien, his first-round pick for the Eagles in 1939. Bell is a big name in the PA sports universe, having once been sole owner of the Eagles and part owner, with Art Rooney, of the Steelers. He also presided over the merger of the two teams in 1943, when because of the war they were forced to join forces and play as the “Pennsylvania Steagles,” a dark dark time that both Eagles and Steelers fans have collectively decided to pretend never happened.

Perhaps Bell's most lasting contribution to the NFL is the college draft, which was his idea, and which first occurred in 1936. Bell also founded the Maxwell Football Club in 1937. That year, the club first awarded the Maxwell Award to college football’s top player – Yale’s Clinton E. Frank was the inaugural winner. In 1959, the club began awarding the Bert Bell award for the MVP of the NFL – John Unitas was the first man to win that honor.

In 1946, Bell was elected as the commissioner of the NFL, a post he would hold until his death 13 years later. He died of a heart attack while watching an Eagles/Steelers game at old Franklin Field, which has to be one of the cruelest cases of sporting patricide on record. He was inducted into Canton in 1963.