William M. Bell
William McNeil "Big Bill" Bell Sr. was an American football player and coach and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Claflin University in Orangeburg, South Carolina from 1934 to 1935, Florida A&M University from 1936 to 1942, and North Carolina A&T State University from 1946 to 1956. Bell was the first African-American football player in the history of the Ohio State Buckeyes football program.
After graduating from Ohio State in 1932, Bell was an assistant coach at Howard University in Washington, D.C. for two years. In 1934, he was hired as athletic director and head football coach at Claflin.
Bell married to the former Henrietta Louise Lee of Charleston, South Carolina.
