Former NFL, NFL Europe, XLF and CFL defensive back Ricky Bell dies at the age of 36 due to unknown cause
Former defensive back for the Jacksonville Jaguars and Chicago Bears, Ricky Bell, has died at the age of 36. There was no cause of death provided.
Bell died in Columbia, South Carolina on February 17, 2011 according to Leevy’s Funeral Home in Columbia. Florence Bell and Tanisha Means, Bell’s mother and girlfriend respectively, also would not release the cause of death to the media.
Bell went to North Carolina State University where he was the captain of their football team, the Wolfpack, and was then drafted by the Jacksonville Jaguars.
He spent three years in the National Football League (NFL) with the Jags and Bears. He then went over to NFL Europe and also spent a year in the XLF, a vicious and brutal form of football that focuses more on roughness and hitting than actually playing.
After spending five years in the NFL, NFL Europe and XFL, Bell joined the Canadian Football League (CFL) in 2001. While in the CFL, he played for the Calgary Stampeders, Ottawa Renegades, Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Montreal Alouettes.
He won one Grey Cup with the Stampeders before leaving the league in 2007. After the CFL, he went over to the Arena Football League (AFL), where he spent the year of 2008 with the Georgia Force.
"He was a competitor," said B.C. Lions coach Wally Buono, Bell's coach in Calgary. "He was a good guy. He was a good football player and helped us win a Grey Cup."
"I’m always disrupted and saddened when I hear that," said Buono. "These are young men that you would never think would be passing away before you are. I’m a lot older than Ricky."
Bell’s mother, Florence Bell, said that Ricky had always wanted to grow up to be a football player and wear the number 42 because he was born in 1942, which he did.
She said that she remembered her brother telling Ricky that his chances of playing in the NFL are very slim, one in a million. But he looked at his uncle and said that he was going to be that one in a million.
She also said that he was happy to play in the CFL after the NFL, NFL Europe and XLF.
"He said it was so different, you know? He just told me that the field was wider. But he loved Canada and when the opportunity came he said: 'Mom, they called me to come play and I think I'm going to (go).'"
After he retired from the CFL in 2008, the player moved from Toronto back to South Carolina and started a real estate business.
Bell leaves behind his girlfriend, Tanisha, and daughter, Nyla
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