John Bell
Men's and Women's Cross Country/ Men's Tennis - Coach (1984-2013)
Guided Chiefs’ Cross Country to 22 ISCC titles over 30 years
Directed Chiefs’ Cross Country to a dozen Region titles
ISCC Men’s Sports Coach of the Year for 2000-2001
ISCC Coach of the Year 17 times
Over the years, every once in a while John Bell would walk in to Waubonsee's Athletics Office and jokingly ask "How did the minor sports of baseball, basketball or soccer do recently?" Instead, with Bell’s guidance the Chiefs’ relatively lower-profile sports of cross country and men's tennis achieved some seriously major success.
A native of Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin, Bell graduated from Quincy College in 1966 with a degree in Business Administration, and then earned a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Northeast Missouri State College. He began teaching business classes and coaching track at Aurora West High School in 1970. Over a 30-year span, he helped lead the Blackhawks to a dual meet record of 341-49, nine conference titles, four sectional titles, and a pair of top-10 finishes in the state.
Bell took over the Chiefs’ Cross Country program in 1984, guiding Waubonsee runners to 22 Illinois Skyway Collegiate Conference (ISCC) titles over 30 years. His men’s teams won 16 of those, including an unprecedented 6 consecutive titles from 1998 through 2003. Bell also led Waubonsee’s runners to another unprecedented feat from 2007 through 2010. Each of those years his men’s teams captured both the ISCC title and the Region IV crown, to qualify for the NJCAA Division I National Meet, while the women accomplished the same feat twice during that span. Overall his teams won a dozen Region IV titles.
Bell was named the ISCC Cross Country Coach of the Year 17 times, leading 127 runners to All-ISCC honors and 99 runners to All-Region status, including the school’s only two-time female All-American runner, Sharon Metzger in 2001 and 2002. He took seven men’s teams to the NJCAA National Meet including his 1996 squad, which placed 7th nationally. Bell’s 2001 crew came in 11th nationally, the best finish by any school without a foreign-born runner. Bell also steered Waubonsee’s women to six ISCC crowns and five Region titles. The 1996 team, led by ISCC Runner of the Year Tara Tormey, finished 13th in the nation, while his 2004 and 2013 squads placed 19th nationally.
In addition, Bell led the men’s tennis program for 13 years, and was the recipient of the first ISCC Men’s Sports Coach of the Year Award for the 2000-2001 school year. After guiding the cross-country team to a conference crown, region title and 11th place finish at Nationals, he led the tennis team to an undefeated regular season conference title. The Chiefs then completed their league domination by sweeping all nine flights at the ISCC tournament, tying for the Region IV title and then placing 20th in the nation.
Every year Aurora West High School hosts the “John Bell Invitational” track and field meet, and Coach Bell was inducted into the Blackhawks’ Athletic Hall of Fame in 2003. He also was inducted into the ISCC Hall of Fame in 2005. He and his wife Carol live in Aurora and have two grown children, Sean and Michelle, and six grandchildren.