[1][2] When he was six years old, he was asleep in the family home, owned by the textile mill employing his father, when it caught fire.
His mother, Zannie Lee Bell, broke free from those trying to restrain her from going into the collapsing building, where she crawled on the floor to his bedroom and pulled him out to safety.
[2][3] Bell excelled in several sports at a then-segregated Cleveland High School in Shelby, where he was coached by John Weston in football.
[4] He was scouted by the Chicago White Sox for baseball at 16 years old, but his father wanted him to finish school.
[3][4][5] Coach Jim Tatum of the University of North Carolina was interested in Bell to play football, but the school was segregated.
'"[1] He was a two-time first team All-American (1961 and 1962) and the winner of the 1962 Outland Trophy, which is given to the nation's most outstanding interior lineman.
[1] Bell was offered the key to the city of Shelby in 1962, after all his success, but asked instead if he could walk into the front door of the ice cream parlor across the street to get an ice-cream cone.
He did it to honor his father, who believed that blacks could compete equally with whites in sports and education if given a chance.
He surprisingly chose to join the Chiefs, where he would go on to play for 12 years, first in the American Football League from 1963 through 1969, and then in the NFL from 1970 through 1974.
[2] He was selected to the NFL 100th Anniversary All-Time Team, which also included teammates Buck Buchanan, Willie Lanier (who would become a lifelong friend[7]), and Jan Stenerud.
[12] In 1999, he was ranked number 66 on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Football Players, one above teammate Buck Buchanan.
[14] A total of six defensive players on the Chiefs Super Bowl IV championship team were selected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame (Bell, Buchanan, Curly Culp, Willie Lanier, Emmitt Thomas and Johnny Robinson).
He had been a lineman, but was moved to outside linebacker for his speed to combat the Oakland Raiders' use of running back Clem Daniels as a pass receiver out of the backfield.
In that era, more often than not the right-side linebacker got the call to "dog" or blitz since more often than not the tight end would be lined up right, on the defense's left.
[7] He was regarded as one of the greatest long snapper centers for field goals and points-after-touchdowns in NCAA and AFL/NFL history.
[citation needed] After his retirement, he opened Bobby Bell's Bar-b-que in Kansas City, Missouri, which he operated for nearly thirty years.
[2] The Bobby Bell Award is presented annually as part of the Thomas A. Simone Annual Memorial Football Awards to a high school player in the greater Kansas City, Missouri area for outstanding small class defensive lineman/linebacker.