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Ricky Bell, an outstanding running back at Southern California who played six years in the National Football League, died yesterday at age 29 in a hospital in Inglewood, Calif., not far from his Los Angeles home. Doctors attributed his death to cardiac arrest caused by illnesses from which he had been suffering for two years.Bell, who was the first pick in the N.F.L.' S 1977 draft, suffered from dermatomyositis and polymyositis, diseases that together affect the skin, the striated muscles and various connective tissues of the body.
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Their cause is unknown.' 'Dermatomyositis is a chronic, inflammatory muscle disease felt to be due to abnormalities of the human immune system,' said Dr. Allan Metzger of Beverly Hills, who was Bell's physician. 'Less than five percent of patients with this disease have associated heart disease of this severity.' ' Led Nation in RushingAs a junior in college, Bell led the nation in rushing, with 1,875 yards. A year later, he finished second to Tony Dorsett of Pitt in the balloting for the Heisman Trophy.
After his senior year, he was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, whose head coach, John McKay, had resigned as coach at Southern Cal after Bell's junior season. 'Ricky Bell was one of the finest football players I've ever had the pleasure of coaching,' McKay said yesterday in a statement issued by the Buccaneers. 'He was an even finer man.
This is a great tragedy. My heart goes out to his family.' 'When Bell played at Southern Cal, McKay compared him to another great U.S.C.
J.,' McKay once said, 'Ricky Bell has the best speed I've ever coached at tailback. And at 6-2 and 215 pounds, he's the biggest tailback I've ever had. He has tremendous power of acceleration. There's no limit to his success, provided he continues to get good blocking. But, with his size and speed, he needs less blocking than other people.'
'Set Records for Tampa BayIn five seasons with the Buccaneers, Bell set several club records, and he still holds the Tampa Bay career rushing record, 3,057 yards. But his playing time dwindled in 1981, partly because of a series of minor injuries that were later thought to mark the beginnings of his illness.
He asked to be traded, and in March 1982 McKay sent him to the San Diego Chargers. But, suffering from weight loss, aching muscles and severe skin problems, he retired before the 1983 season.He is survived by his wife, Natalia; a 3-year-old daughter, Noell, and his mother, Ruth.
( 0)LOS ANGELES - Ricky Bell, the former football star who died at age 29 from a rare muscle disease that ravaged his once-powerful body, was eulogized Monday as 'one of the kindest men that anyone has ever seen.' More than 700 friends and family members crowded into the Pilgrim Baptist Church for the 90-minute service. Earlier, friends and some of Bell's former teammates passed the open casket, some stopping to kiss the former USC Trojan, Tampa Bay Buccaneer and San Diego Charger running back. Eight people delivered speeches, including Los Angeles Rams coach John Robinson, who was an assistant when Bell finished second to Tony Dorsett for the Heisman Trophy in 1976; former USC Heisman Trophy winner Mike Garrett; and Melvin Jackson, a USC lineman who blocked for Bell.John McKay, who coached Bell at USC and later at Tampa Bay, where he was the No.
1 pick in the NFL draft, did not attend the funeral but was to meet with Bell's family at Inglewood Park Cemetary.' I was fortunate to be there when he worked his way from just another man on the team to one of the greatest athletes in USC history,' Robinson said. 'He was the kindest man that anyone has ever seen. He had never changed from the first day I met him until now.' If we can live our life the way this man did, Ricky will live forever.' Kendricks, Bell's pastor, described the football star as a very religious man.' He was reading the Bible when pain was darting through his body,' Kendricks said.During the service, Bell's wife, Natalia, sobbed uncontrollably at times, and family members came to her aide often.Bell's pro career was shortened by dermatomyositis, an incurable muscle disease that robbed him of bulging muscles and eventually caused his heart to fail.He learned in November 1982 that he suffered from the disease that attacks the heart, muscles and skin.
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In the final weeks of the illness when he weighed only 110 pounds - half his playing weight - he knew he did not have long to live.His last interview was granted to television station KNBC on the condition it not be aired until after his death Dec. 28.Bell's 10-year-old son, Ricky Jr., and his brother, Nathan, were with him when he died.While at USC from 1974-76, Bell carried on the tradition of outstanding Trojan tailbacks by rushing for 3,689 yards for a 5.2-yard average and 28 touchdowns.Bell was the nation's leading rusher with 1,875 yards as a junior when he set a USC season record later broken by Marcus Allen. He is third on the school's single-season rushing list - behind Allen and Charles White and ahead of O.J. Simpson - and seventh on the NCAA list.