East Texas A&M Athletic Hall of Fame
Sports Information Director • 1951-89
Dr. Jack Bell was hired by ETSU in 1951 as the head of the school's journalism department and, unbeknownst to him, he would soon afterward be given the job as the school's Sports Information Director. Soon, his sports information program ranked among the best in the country. His news releases, brochures, press box operations and approach to the media were models for the rest of the LSC as well as the nation. As a teacher, he trained many of the top sports information directors and sports writers in the country. He served as the SID for Lion athletics until 1968. Although he stepped down as SID, he continued to be the official scorer at home basketball games and was the play-by-play recorder for home football games.
From 1954 until his retirement in 1985, Bell served on the ETSU Athletic Council. He was the founding president of the NAIA Sports Information Directors Association and was the director of the NAIA National Basketball Tournament each year. He was elected into the NAIA Hall of Fame in 1970.
