Upton Bell

Upton Bell (born 1937) is a former National Football League executive, currently a talk show host and commentator. He is the son of former National Football League commissioner Bert Bell and Broadway actress Frances Upton.

Upton Bell started his football career by working at the Baltimore Colts' training camp, moved to the ticket office and then in 1964 transitioned to the Colts' scouting department where he then became personnel director in 1966. His responsibilities included scouting and negotiating contracts with and signing of all college recruits. He worked with Weeb Eubank and Don Shula. During Upton's tenure, the Colts were in two NFL Championship games and two Super Bowl games, winning Super Bowl V in 1971 under new head coach Don McCafferty. Seventeen of the 40-man roster on that winning team were players drafted during Upton's tenure as personnel director. Bell held the personnel director's job until he was hired to become the general manager of the New England Patriots (then known as the Boston Patriots) in 1971.

At 33, Bell was the NFL's youngest general manager. One of Bell's first moves was recommending to the Patriots' board of directors that they change the name from Bay State Patriots to The New England Patriots. Later Bell hired Bucko Kilroy and put together the Patriots' first scouting department. For the scouting department Bell hired Tom Boisture, Dick Steinberg, Mike Hickey and Bob Terpening, all of whom went on to head scouting positions in the NFL. Bell also hired as Assistant GM Peter Hadhazy who later became GM of the Cleveland Browns. Under Bell' leadership, the Patriots improved from 2–12 to 6–8. Despite the improvement, Bell wanted to fire Head Coach John Mazur and hire a coach of his own choosing. The team's board of directors agreed that if the Patriots lost to the Baltimore Colts, Mazur would be fired. Patriots quarterback Jim Plunkett landed an 88-yard pass to Randy Vataha for a 21–17 Patriots win. The Patriots finished the following season with a 3–11 record and Bell was fired on December 5.

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