2003 (Spring) Female Player: Marian Bell

Marian Bell

Since she first started playing adult competitive slow pitch as an eighth grader, Southern Illinois native Marion Bell has played every position in 20 years of softball, the last ten of them in USSSA.

A .650 lifetime hitter, Bell had power to all fields. That talent led her to be selected to the USSSA Class A All-State team in Rockford in 1985, and helped her teams qualify for several USSSA World Tournaments.

After starting out with Fred Bach Auto Body of Belleville, Bell moved to Miller Lite of Belleville (later “Hecker”). Towards the end of her career, she played two seasons with Coors of Champaign.

From the time she was 18, Bell has been a player to whom teammates have looked for support, guidance and leadership. In fact, Bell is remembered as much for her organizational and logistical skills as for her talent, particularly with the Miller Lite teams.

Bell retired in 1988 following her second back surgery to repair a cracked disc injured playing indoor softball.

“It’s kind of hard when you don’t get to pick your time to leave,” Bell said.

Still, Bell retains many friends from the sport.

“I probably consider five of the girls I played with my best friends,” she said.

Another four or five she sees several times a year. “I made lifelong friends, and had a lot of good times,” she said.

Among those good times were the years spent hitting softballs over the fence at Fox Valley in Rockford.

One of her fondest memories though is being utterly lost in Kingston, North Carolina. After flying in for the USSSA World Tournament, Bell and teammate Deb Germann took turns changing into their uniforms in their rental car and looking fruitlessly for the park where the tournament was being held. Finally, they spotted another car with rental plates and asked them if they were headed to the park. The car’s occupants, Brenda Paulson and her husband Ken smiled and said, “Follow us.” Brenda had the women run ahead while she parked their car. Bell and Germann got to the field as the first pitch was being tossed and looked up later to see Paulson walking up, smiling, with their purses and bags in her arms.

In her softball retirement, Bell’s thoughts sometimes turn back to the game she spent a vibrant youth playing.

“We’re getting a few women who played fast pitch in high school or college,” she said of the sport today. “[But] I don’t see slow pitch leagues [for kids] being organized here. We need to get more kids involved.”

While her thoughts will be with the people gathered in Rockford for the induction ceremony, Bell cannot be there physically. “It’s very special, I wish I could be there,” Bell said.