Bellard died on February 10, 2011, after battling amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's disease) since the fall of 2010.

His father was a geologist and driller who arrived in Central Texas in the late 1920s to take part in the emerging oil boom.

[3] Bellard graduated from Aransas Pass High School and went on to attend the University of Texas at Austin, where he played his freshman year under coach Dana X. Bible.

Bellard was a high school head coach for 21 seasons, where he achieved a record of 177–59–9 and won three state titles.

[4] He was then hired to succeed Joe Kerbel at Breckenridge High School, then a state powerhouse in the second-highest UIL classification.

In 1960, Bellard was selected over Gordon Wood to replace Bob Harrell as head coach at Central High School in San Angelo, Texas.

San Angelo Central was playing in the highly competitive District 2-4A, nicknamed the "Little Southwest Conference", against perennial state champions such as Abilene and Odessa Permian.

In 1975, however, Bellard hired Tom Wilson away from Jim Carlen's Texas Tech coaching staff to serve as the Aggies' offensive coordinator.