Matty Bell - Misplaced Pages

(Redirected from Madison A. "Matty" Bell) American football player (1899-1983)

Matty Bell
Biographical details

Born	(1899-02-22)February 22, 1899 Fort Worth, Texas, U.S.
Died	June 30, 1983(1983-06-30) (aged 84) Dallas, Texas, U.S.
Playing career
Football
1916–1919	Centre

Position(s)	End
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
Football
1920–1921	Haskell
1922	Carroll (WI)
1923–1928	TCU
1929–1933	Texas A&M
1935–1941	SMU
1945–1949	SMU
Basketball
1923–1929	TCU

Administrative career (AD unless noted)
1947–1964	SMU

Head coaching record
Overall	153–88–17 (football) 71–41 (basketball)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
Football 1 National (1935) 4 SWC (1935, 1940, 1947–1948)


College Football Hall of Fame Inducted in 1955 (profile)

William Madison "Matty" Bell (February 22, 1899 – June 30, 1983) was an American football player, coach of football and basketball, and college athletics administrator. He played for Centre, captain of its 1918 team. He served as the head football coach at the Haskell Institute (1920–1921), Carroll College in Waukesha, Wisconsin (1922), Texas Christian University (1923–1928), Texas A&M University (1929–1933), and Southern Methodist University (1935–1941, 1945–1949), compiling a career college football record of 147–88–17. His 1935 SMU Mustangs, which have been recognized as a national champion, went 12–0 in the regular season before losing to Stanford in the Rose Bowl. Bell was also the head basketball coach at Texas Christian for six seasons from 1923 to 1929, tallying a mark of 71–41. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1955. After retiring from coaching following the 1949 season, Bell served as the athletic director at Southern Methodist until 1964. He died in 1983 in Dallas, Texas.

Navy service

During World War II, Bell took a leave of absence from coaching to serve in the aviation branch of the United States Naval Reserve from 1942 to 1945. On June 12, 1942, he was sworn in as a lieutenant commander, and reported to Annapolis. Subsequently, he became the athletic director at the Navy Pre-Flight School on the campus of the University of Georgia and rose to the rank of commander. After the war, he returned to SMU as head coach.

Head coaching record

Football


Year	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Bowl/playoffs	AP
Haskell Indians (Independent) (1920–1921)
1920	Haskell	7–2–1
1921	Haskell	5–4
Haskell:		14–6–1
Carroll Pioneers (Independent) (1922)
1922	Carroll	3–4
Carroll:		3–4
TCU Horned Frogs (Southwest Conference) (1923–1928)
1923	TCU	4–5	2–1	3rd
1924	TCU	4–5	1–5	8th
1925	TCU	7–1–1	2–0–1	2nd
1926	TCU	6–1–2	1–1–2	T–3rd
1927	TCU	4–3–2	1–2–2	5th
1928	TCU	8–2	3–2	T–3rd
TCU:		33–17–5	10–11–5
Texas A&M Aggies (Southwest Conference) (1929–1933)
1929	Texas A&M	5–4	2–3	5th
1930	Texas A&M	2–7	0–5	7th
1931	Texas A&M	7–3	3–2	3rd
1932	Texas A&M	4–4–2	1–2–2	4th
1933	Texas A&M	6–3–1	2–2–1	4th
Texas A&M:		24–21–3	8–14–3
SMU Mustangs (Southwest Conference) (1935–1941)
1935	SMU	12–1	6–0	1st	L Rose
1936	SMU	5–4–1	2–3–1	5th
1937	SMU	5–6	2–4	6th
1938	SMU	6–4	4–2	2nd
1939	SMU	6–3–1	4–2	T–2nd
1940	SMU	8–1–1	5–1	T–1st		16
1941	SMU	5–5	2–4	5th
SMU Mustangs (Southwest Conference) (1945–1949)
1945	SMU	5–6	4–2	2nd
1946	SMU	4–5–1	2–4	T–5th
1947	SMU	9–0–2	5–0–1	1st	T Cotton	3
1948	SMU	9–1–1	5–0–1	1st	W Cotton	10
1949	SMU	5–4–1	2–3–1	5th
SMU:		79–40–8	43–25–4
Total:		153–88–17
National championship Conference title Conference division title or championship game berth
Rankings from final AP Poll.

References

Carroll University Athletics Archived August 11, 2011, at the Wayback Machine Season-by-season football results
Billford, Andrew. "Bell, William Madison 'Matty'", Handbook of Texas Online, published by the Texas State Historical Association, uploaded on June 12, 2010, modified on September 28, 2012. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
June 13, 1942 press photo description.
Oakland Tribune. "Matty Bell to Leave S.M.U. for Navy Work", June 12, 1942, page D 29.
Fullerton Jr., Hugh. "Sports Round Up", The Evening Capital, Annapolis, Maryland, July 26, 1945, page 7.