De Benneville “Bert” Bell, a Haverford School graduate, created the NFL draft almost nine decades ago and changed the league’s direction in the process, according to a staff report from the Hartford Courant. 

The draft has come a long way from its first iteration held on Feb. 8, 1936, when just nine men gathered in a hotel room at the Ritz-Carlton in Philadelphia.

The Eagles had the first pick, but their selection, Jay Berwanger, never ended up playing for the team. He wanted $1,000 per game but the team offered him only $150, so he decided to become a foam rubber salesman instead. 

However, by organizing the first event, Bell, who was a former Penn football player and owner of the Eagles, allowed the league to prosper for years to come. 

“He saw way ahead of all the people that the NFL was not going to last unless they had a common draft,” said Upton Bell, Bert’s son and former general manager of New England Patriots. “And he had to convince everybody to do that. If there’s no common draft, there’s no NFL.” 

Read more about Bert Bell taking part in the first NFL draft in the Hartford Courant. 

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