NFL Countdown: 1959 - A tragic year for league following sudden demise of commissioner Bert Bell

The sudden death of De Benneville "Bert" Bell shocked the NFL world. It left a gaping hole that took many years to fill. At the time of his passing in 1959, Bell was the NFL commissioner. This was a position he had held since 1946.

Many historians believe his achievements during that thirteen-year period saved the NFL from certain failure. Under his guidance, the foundation for the modern NFL was laid. Because of Bell, it has become the league we know and love today.

Bell's efforts as the commissioner only tell half of the story, and before he even took on the NFL's top job, he had already left an indelible mark on the league. He is possibly the single most important individual in the history of the National Football League.

From college coach to founding the Philadelphia Eagles

By the time Bell entered the NFL world in 1933, he was already experiencing a long-time love affair with the game, which had seen him spend four years as the starting quarterback for Penn State. His time there was interrupted by World War I, but he would return from active duty to finish his college career in 1919.

He remained at Penn in a coaching capacity for the next 10 years. Following that, he spent three years with the Temple Owls. He would lose $50,000 during the Wall Street Crash of 1929. His father, however, was one of the richest men in the US, so he quickly bailed out the struggling Bell.

As a result of his privileged upbringing, Bell socialized in affluent circles and had long-standing friendships with Art Rooney, Tim Mara and George Preston Marshall. All three were owners of NFL teams and had made multiple attempts to encourage him to start his own franchise.

He initially resisted, citing that he did not believe in the concept of the league, but after much persuasion from his friends, he relented. He borrowed money from his father to acquire the rights to a Philadelphia franchise in 1933. With that, the Philadelphia Eagles were born.

On-field and financial troubles lead to the creation of the Draft

The Eagles experienced a difficult start, and after two seasons of struggling, Bell knew that change was needed in order to protect the long-term future of the NFL. His team were struggling on the field and at the gate. He believed there was one major reason for this.

When the best college players entered the league, they had the freedom to choose whatever franchise they desired. This would often lead to a bidding war, which gave the bigger, more established teams the advantage, and this was creating a real imbalance.

Sometimes, even money couldn't encourage the best young talent to join the newer teams, and it was after one specific incident that Bell knew that things would need to change, or the NFL would surely fail.

Bell was trying to recruit a talented fullback and linebacker from the University of Minnesota named Stanley Kostka. He was willing to offer Kostka more money than every other NFL team. Still, Kostka was not convinced. He informed Bell that the Brooklyn Dodgers Football Team had offered him $3,500 a year. Bell offered $4,000, then $6,000. Kostka stalled again, and then decided to take the Dodgers' offer.

His son Upton provided this insight into the situation when he was interviewed a few years ago:

"He could see into the future. He could see problems immediately. The league would have been gone by 1939 or 1940. As long as there was no draft, players could pit one team against another. He knew who he had to get to. He knew the real power in the league was George Halas."

Bell did get the ear of Halas. In 1935, the owners signed off on the introduction of the college draft. It was first held the very next year, with Bell acting as the master of ceromonies.

His time as the NFL Commissioner

Barely months into the job, he faced one of his biggest challenges. Prior to the 1946 NFL Championship, two players from the New York Giants were implemented in a betting scandal to fix the outcome of the game.

The new commissioner acted immediately, suspending both players indefinitely and then writing the league's anti-gambling legislation. This gave the NFL the power to issue lifetime bans to anyone in the NFL suspected of game fixing or withholding information relating to such acts.

Before the decade was over, he had seen the merger of the NFL and its direct competitor, the AAFC, before he set about marketing the league to a national TV audience. He oversaw the creation of the ProBowl and the introduction of overtime, all aimed at creating a better spectacle for fans.

In his final years, he sanctioned the creation of the NFLPA and agreed to engage with them. He did this even though it annoyed some owners, including longtime friend Art Rooney.

Shortly before his death, he was in poor health and was advised to rest by his doctors. He let them know that he would rather die watching football than die in his bed. As fate would have it, that's exactly what happened when he suffered a fatal heart attack at a game between the Eagles and Steelers, the team he created, and the team he once owned. He was 59 years old. His death shook the league to its core.

He was later inducted into the Hall of Fame as a member of the first ever class of inductees, and his statue can be seen outside the HOF in Canton.