May 14 – Tommy Bell Award Program

Each year, our Club sets aside a lunch meeting to honor the legacy of one of our own, Tommy Bell, and to present the Tommy Bell Award. More on Mr. Bell below.

Assisting with today’s program is a name familiar to many of us: Doug Flynn. Doug is a former Bryan Station High School three-sport star. He played baseball professionally for eleven seasons with the Cincinnati Reds, New York Mets, Texas Rangers, Montreal Expos and Detroit Tigers. Flynn won two World Series titles with the Reds and a Gold Glove while with the Mets. He earned the moniker of “the glue” of the fabled Big Red Machine.

His post-baseball career consists of working as a banking officer for Central Bank and broadcasting college baseball for the University of Kentucky on the SEC network. Flynn also worked in radio and television for the Reds beginning in 2013. For eight years he and Rotarian Jeff Piecoro co-hosted Reds Weekly, a magazine-style show on Fox Sports Ohio. A Lexington resident, he currently hosts The Doug Flynn Show podcast.

Tommy Bell was born in Lexington, Kentucky on July 2, 1922. He graduated from Henry Clay High School in 1939 where he was all-state in football and track. He then attended the University of Kentucky, but he was called to serve the United States Air Force in World War II. Thereafter, he graduated from UK in 1948 and obtained his law degree from UK in 1950.

Tommy Bell’s chosen profession was that of a lawyer, and he was a good one; so respected by his peers that he was chosen in 1966 as the Henry T. Duncan Memorial Outstanding Lawyer in Lexington. Mr. Bell was one of the founding partners of the law firm now known as Fowler Bell.

Mr. Bell is a member of the University of Kentucky Hall of Alumni, Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity Hall of Fame, the Kentucky High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame, the Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame and Kentucky Pro Football Hall of Fame. He also received the Brotherhood Award from the National Conference of Christians and Jews. He served on the University of Kentucky Board of Trustees and the University of Kentucky Athletic Association Board and was a member of the University of Kentucky Development Council and chairman of their Fellows program. He was state chairman of the Character and Fitness Committee for the Kentucky Bar Association, past president of the Greater Lexington Chamber of Commerce, and state chairman of the Easter Seals. He served on numerous boards of directors.

His hobby was sports officiating, which he did at both the collegiate and professional levels. Some people are probably not aware of his refereeing two NCAA championship basketball finals in 1956 and 1959, before joining the National Football League, where he officiated eight championship games and two Super Bowls, Super Bowl III and Super Bowl VII.

Finally, Mr. Bell was in heavy demand as a public speaker, having spoken in many countries and most of the United States. Tommy Bell believed in God, the church, family, education, marriage, honesty, respect for the law and order, authority, America, and hard work. By any measuring device, Tommy Bell was a success.

Rotary in Review 

 STEPHAN JACKSON RECEIVES TOMMY BELL AWARD 

 Forty years after his passing in 1986, the Rotary Club of Lexington still honors the memory of one its most beloved and well-known members. 

     The 40th Annual Tommy Bell Award for Lexington’s Outstanding Student-Athlete was presented on May 14 to Jackson Stephan from Henry Clay High School.  The award is presented by the Rotary Club of Lexington in memory of Tommy Bell (father of current Rotarian Bruce Bell) who was a legendary NFL referee, Lexingtonian, and a past member of the Rotary Club of Lexington.  Although he is the sixteenth student-athlete from Henry Clay – the same high school where Tommy starred in football – to capture this honor, Jackson is the first basketball player recognized.  He played three years of varsity basketball and, during his senior year averaged twenty-one points and eleven rebounds per game. He was a two-time member of both the All-City and All-Regional Teams, in addition to being named to the All-State and Academic All-State teams.  Jackson will continue his academic and athletic career at the United States Air Force Academy playing for the USAFA Falcons.  After graduation, he will become a commissioned officer in the United States Air Force. 

 In accepting his award, Jackson thanked the Fayette County principals and coaches, his coach—Coach Brown—and teachers at Henry Clay, along with his teammates, parents and grandparents.  He said that athletics taught him to work hard, stay humble, trust people around him, and to strive for integrity and consistency. 

 After the awards presentation, guest speaker Doug Flynn, a member of the Cincinnati Reds Big Red Machine offered comments.  Flynn—the only major league player to hit three triples in one game—said that he was not a very good student when he played football, basketball, and baseball at Bryan Station High School and his options after high school were either the Army or the Navy—not the Academies—but enlistment.  He did play one year of basketball at the University of Kentucky under Coach Joe B. Hall before being offered a scholarship to play baseball.  He tried out for the Cincinnati Reds four times before making the team with a $2,500 signing bonus.  His rookie year salary was $16,500, at a time when the best players were making $285,000.  That compares to $4.4 million today.  He said there is a fine line between confidence and cockiness and stated that most players today, unfortunately, are “little robots” with little respect for the game.  In closing, he congratulated Jackson on his award and attitude towards athletics.  He also recognized Rotarian Jim Richardson and the work they did together for decades for the Children’s Charity Classic in Lexington. 

 The Tommy Bell Award Day truly recognized outstanding athletic achievement and civic responsibility. 

                                                                        – Paul B. Chewning 

 [Editor’s Note:  a detailed biography of Tommy Bell appeared in the May 7, 2026 Wheel Horse; an on-line search will reveal much more.  When he passed away in 1986, the University of Kentucky flew its flags at half-staff in honor of one its most distinguished alumni.]