Bell rang true at PV

KARL PEARSON
Star Beacon

November 29, 2008 12:47 am

— MENTOR -- Mike Bell is accustomed to being in a situation where great expectations constantly surround him.
As the head football coach at Lake Catholic, Bell’s Cougars are almost always counted upon to achieve great things, not just on the Division III, Region 9 level, but often on a statewide basis. In his seven seasons as the head coach, after three highly successful seasons as the defensive coordinator, including one state championship unit, Bell knows what it’s like to have big things expected of his team.
But, in spite of all the things his teams have accomplished during his tenure and a Division III state championship they claimed in 2001 while he was the defensive coordinator, the Cougars have never achieved something under Bell’s tutelage that he was a part of as a high school player at Pymatuning Valley High School. For, as an offensive lineman for Ken Parise’s first team as Laker head coach, Bell helped PV produce the school’s only 10-0 football season in 1985.
“It’s kind of nice to be able to say I was part of an undefeated team,” Bell said. “It’s something no one can ever take away from us.”
He has chosen not to share that accomplishment with his Lake Catholic players.
“They have their own great accomplishments and great traditions here,” Bell said. “I don’t think they need to hear about mine.”
That has not diminished the sense of pride he shares in the achievements of he and his Laker teammates. In fact, there is at least a part of Bell that feels that team did something only those who have gone undefeated can truly appreciate. Lake Catholic has recorded four undefeated seasons since it began playing football in 1970, but none during Bell’s time with the Cougars.
“Going 10-0 is more difficult than going to state,” Bell said. “Maintaining that level of intensity for 10 games is so difficult.
“There’s nothing that lessens the pride and joy of that season. It’s fact, not fiction. I think everybody remembers that season. When we got together in 2005 for the reunion they had for that team, I hadn’t seen a lot of those guys in years. Just to see them again was so special. It brought all the memories back.”
Much has happened on the gridiron for Bell since that glorious season. For his achievement during his high school career and in the years since, Bell is Pymatuning Valley’s 2008 inductee into the Ashtabula County Football Hall of Fame, which will take place Dec. 8 at the Ashtabula County Touchdown Club’s annual awards banquet.
“This certainly is an honor,” Bell said. “There are a lot of great people that are already in that group. I’m honored to be one of them.”
At 40, he will be the second-youngest member of the Hall of Fame, trailing only fellow 2008 inductee Mick Shoaf of Grand Valley, with whom he spent time as an

assistant coach at Maple Heights. He will also be joining his old teammate, tight end John Bleshoy, in the Hall of Fame. Bleshoy, who now resides in the Atlanta, Ga. area, was inducted last year.
They may not have realized it at the time, but a couple of his old high school coaches have come to realize Bell had the complete makeup to be a head football coach. Brian Cross was PV’s head coach for Bell’s first three high school seasons, while current Conneaut coach Ken Parise headed up the Lakers during that special 1985 football season.
“The toughness Mike had as a player has never left him,” Parise said. “The leadership he showed even then is still the same.
“It doesn’t surprise me that Mike went in (the coaching direction). Mike has always had the same work ethic. He’s always been willing to put in the time. He’s definitely worthy of this honor.”
Cross seconds that emotion.
“Mike was just a solid person, even as a junior and senior when we were trying to build our program,” he said. “Nobody had a better work ethic than Mike.”
Both Cross and Parise have had the opportunity to see Bell in action as a coach, too.
“Mike was a part of my staff for the North-South game when I was coaching at (Canton) McKinley,” Cross said. “I had a great time coaching with him. He taught me a number of things I didn’t even know.”
“I had the opportunity to work with Mike in 2005 at Lake Catholic,” Parise said. “He has the same type of demeanor as a coach that he had as a player. I think a lot of Mike’s success is because of his determination.
“The year I was there, we had a pretty fair quarterback named Ricky Stanzi (now the quarterback at Iowa). It was a lot of fun.”
Bell made quite an impression on opposing coaches as a player and young assistant coach.
“Mike was a fine player,” retired Grand Valley coach Jim Henson, himself a Hall of Famer, said. “But I also knew him as a coach when he was a student teacher here. I knew he’d be a good coach.
“Mike was also a fine player at Hiram (Henson’s collegiate alma mater). You know, the time commitment for players at that level is almost the same as players at Ohio State, and Mike has always been willing to put in the time.
“I’ve also had the chance to see Mike’s Lake Catholic teams because he brings them to our football camp at Edinboro (University, where Henson is now an assistant coach) every summer. You can tell how organized and disciplined his program is. You can also tell how much he cares about his kids.”

Where it all started
As much of an impact as Parise and Cross had on Bell, his father, Beau, appears to have been the biggest influence on the youngster as a coach, teacher and person.
“I’d have to start out with my dad,” he said. “He worked with Bob Miller when he was the coach at PV. I remember the staff meetings we used to have in our living room when I was little. He remember him being at practice until 5 or 6.
“My dad always emphasized discipline, hard work and remaining focused. He always talked about trying to do your best at all times, no matter what you were doing. He always took an interest in what any of his kids were doing.”
Mike is the eldest of three children. He is one year ahead of Scott, the most prominent name from the 1985 team who now lives in Florida, and a sister, Carla Martin, who still resides in Andover.
He and Scott started playing football when they were in elementary school and lived with their mother, Marsha Bond.
“Scott and I played for the Packers,” Mike said. “I was the fullback.”
By seventh grade, they were with their father, who lived in Salineville. They moved to Andover for Mike’s eighth-grade year.
“We had four teams in junior high,” he said. “I was on the White team. We were undefeated.”
All the while, the Bell children knew they had their father’s support.
“My dad always did it the right way,” Bell said. “He’d ask us how we felt we did after games. He always had a word of encouragement for us.
“He’d get up and pack our lunches every day. We’d usually have a note of encouragement, something like, ‘Practice with great enthusiasm.’ He’d always encourage us to give it all we had.”

Growing up
The PV program gradually grew as Bell and his teammates developed. The Lakers went from 2-7 his freshman season of 1981 to 4-5 his sophomore year.
“When Mike came out as a freshman, he was probably only about 5-7 and 145 pounds and he wasn’t very big or very strong,” Parise, who was Cross’ assistant at the time, said. “But Mike just had that work ethic.
“Brian and I could see when we got our JV team together that Mike was going to be an important part of our program. By the time he finished up as a senior, he was up to 6-1, 225.”
There was a time, though, when even all the encouragement didn’t matter. That’s when Cross interceded.
“When I was a sophomore, I almost didn’t go out for the team,” Bell said. “I missed the first scheduled workout in the summer. When I got home that night, Coach Cross was standing on our front porch waiting for me and talked me into it. I can’t imagine how my life would have gone if he hadn’t cared so much.”
That was only a temporary lapse, though. It probably wouldn’t have lasted that long. The charisma of young coaches like Cross, Parise and other assistants like Bob Lundin, Perry Nicholas, Bob Shaffer, Jeff Petrilli and Scott Collins was too much of an attraction.
“Coach Cross was so young and energetic,” Bell said. “He was great to play for. He was able to get us to believe in ourselves.
“I’d have done anything Coach Parise taught me. He was a tremendous motivator. He really taught us to play together, to go the distance for your teammates. We knew he’d do anything for us.
“Coach Lundin had such energy,” Bell said. “He epitomized a player’s coach to me. Coach Nicholas was high energy, too. Coach Shaffer was a very good defensive line coach. Scott Collins was a young guy who could explain the traditions and what it takes to play. He was a big part of our success.”

Hitting the high road
The Lakers hit the big time in Bell’s junior season. They went 9-1, the only blemish a loss to Jefferson in the game that has gone down in history as the “Chubby Special” game which the Falcons won on a trick play featuring Hall of Famer Lance Hammond.
“In my junior year, I really started to play a lot,” Bell said. “I was blocking for guys like Lou Konyha, Mike Hussing, Larry Tennant and Bob Toth.
“I remember the Chubby Special. What a great play! I remember riding the bus home from that game. It hurt. I learned the lesson that you can’t play not to lose.”
Cross remembers Bell well.
“Mike wasn’t overall the most talented player, but he was a solid player,” the coach said.
That Jefferson game actually paid off for the 1985 season.
“Entering that season, I think we went in with a chip on our shoulders,” Bell said. “We worked that offseason. I remember going out and bailing hay, then coming in and lifting.
“Coach Parise took over after my junior year. He made sure we were ready.”
That special season didn’t come easily, though.
“We played two overtime games,” Bell said. “We beat Lakeview (Pa.) in our third game (17-14) and Grand Valley in double overtime (20-19) in the fifth game.
“Grand Valley had Mick Shoaf and (current Jefferson coach) Jimmy Henson. Going into the Hall with Mick means a lot to me because we coached together at Maple Heights. He’s an outstanding person.”
But Parise pulled out all the stops the next week for Jefferson.
“I remember before the game, he came in, shut off all the lights and played ‘In the Air Tonight’ by Phil Collins, which was popular then and kept playing the tape of the Jefferson game over and over again,” Bell said. “That was pretty intense. We won (21-7).
“We were fired up for Grand Valley, too. They sent us white and blue carnations with a message that they’d slaughter our hogs. We were really ready for that game.”
He has used that approach as a coach occasionally.
“My second year at Lake Catholic, we lost to NDCL in the last minute of the game,” Bell said. “I did the same thing the next year, playing a very popular song while we kept playing that last play over and over. Finally, I ejected the tape, threw it against the wall and we went out and won.”
One of the main reasons the Lakers went undefeated was the performance of Scott Bell. He ran for 1,404 yards on 216 carries for a 6.4 average and scored 132 points to earn Tri-County Publications Ashtabula County Player of the Year honors. With Mike gone, Scott was chosen Defensive Player of the Year for the 1986 season.
“I wish I had half the talent Scott had,” Mike said. “It was great to be able to share that season with my brother.”
Parise said Mike Bell’s contributions mattered just as much.
“Mike was also important as our strongside defensive end who had to shut down the opponent’s big linemen as he was on the offensive line,” he said. “He was a major part of our undefeated team.
“And Mike was a great leader. We had a great senior group, but he was our vocal leader.”
In fact, Bell earned a nickname for his approach to the game.
“We called him Face because he’d always get this expression on his face whenever he was upset about something,” Parise said. “I still saw it when I was working with him at Lake Catholic. You can always tell when he’s unhappy.”

Change of direction
In high school, thoughts of making football such a major part of his life were remote in Bell’s mind at best. He wasn’t even really thinking about continuing his football career beyond that season until not long before he graduated from PV in 1986, figuring instead that he was heading toward a career in the military and/or law enforcement.
“When you’re that age, you don’t think about those things much,” the 40-year-old Bell said. “I never would have imagined getting into education or into the coaching profession.
“Before college, I was thinking about going into the Marine Corps and then becoming a state highway patrolman. That was a big part of my family background.”
But interest from several colleges convinced Bell it might open up other avenues for his life.
“In my senior year, I started getting letters and I thought college might be the way to go,” Bell said. “I had interest from Edinboro, Hiram and Mercyhurst. (PV teammate) Rod Smith was going to Hiram, so I decided to go there, too.”
It turned out to be the right choice for Bell. He went on to a three-year varsity career for coach Don Charlton, to whom he credits much of his approach to coaching. At 6-foot, 215 pounds, he earned All-President’s Athletic Conference honors and was chosen a team captain by the Terriers by his senior year.
“I admired Coach Charlton,” Bell said. “He was calm all the time. That was hard for me to get used to for a while, but now I’m probably more like him than any coach I ever played for.
“I try to tell my players emotions and passion are things that can’t be inspired by the coach. I hope the majority of the time they can get ready for games on their own.”

Career choices
That period convinced Bell that teaching and coaching truly were his passion. It led him to stints back at PV as a substitute teacher and assistant for Parise and on to the staff of coaching legend Russ Jacques at Maple Heights with Shoaf.
For the past 12 years, Bell has been a U.S. history teacher at South High School, even earning Coach of the Year honors in baseball in 2002 with the Rebels before he gave up coaching that sport to concentrate on football duties.
In 1999, he joined the football staff of Tom Lombardo at Lake Catholic. Bell became the Cougars’ head coach just weeks before the 2002 season began when Lombardo was suddenly dismissed. He has led Lake Catholic to four playoff appearances since then. Even with a 4-6 record and an injury-riddled team this year, he is at 52-32 (.619 winning percentage).
Bell has tried to live by the advice his father and Parise gave him in his formative years.
“My dad and Coach Parise used to say that if you work hard, the accolades would come,” he said. “That’s the only thing that you can take care of — yourself.”
“I learned several key things over the years. No. 1 is to surround yourself with good people. Second, you have to give the right people the right jobs. A major part is having your assistants and the players in the right place.
“I’m real proud of the effort our young men (at Lake Catholic) have put in. I put a lot of faith in them. We ask a lot of them, but they do it.”

Other choices
Somehow, despite the demands of his teaching and coaching responsibilities, Bell has formulated a fine family. He and the former Susan Moores, a 1989 PV graduate and former Lakers basketball player, have been married for 13 years. They are the parents of Dylan, 12, a seventh-grade football player for Painesville’s St. Mary’s School, Megan, 10, a fifth grader, and Teagan, 3.
His family is Bell’s priority.
“Football is extremely important to me,” he said. “It’s just not as important as my family.
“The first year I got the Lake Catholic job, Gerry Rardin, the (veteran) Walsh Jesuit coach, and I were talking in pregame. He told me to always make time for my family.”
He feels he has a great support system at their home in Madison.
“I really feel I’m blessed with a very supportive and wonderful wife and great kids,” Bell said. “I’m only 40 now, and it would be hard for me to imagine doing anything else, but we’ll have to see. As long as I have the passion, I guess I’ll still be coaching.”

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