2019 Inductee
As a standout athlete at Marshalltown High School and the son of a very successful Marshalltown coach, it seemed only natural that Tim Bell would come home after college and create his own legacy with the Bobcats.
Tim was an outstanding pole vaulter and basketball player in high school and earned a full ride scholarship to play college basketball at Northwest Missouri State.
It was coaching Marshalltown Boys Cross Country where Tim Bell really left his mark.
The Bobcats had qualifiers to the state cross country meet 27 times out of Bell’s 32 years at the helm; 25 those came as a team including a fine run of 18 seasons in a row.
Tim was selected as the state Coach of the Year in 1998. He was a regional or conference Coach of the Year on 26 different occasions. Three of his squads finished as the state runner-up, ten teams finished in the top 5, and 3 times Marshalltown had the individual champion.
His teams won 10 conference meet titles, 11 state qualifying meet titles and an astounding 107 varsity invitational meet championships.
Tim said Marshalltown Cross Country was truly a running family and that his wife Dee-anna was the driving force behind it.
During Coach Bell’s tenure they averaged nearly 50 team members per season.
Tim spent 35 years in the Marshalltown school district and along with teaching and coaching many sports, he also served as the schools Athletic Director and Assistant Principal. He was once selected as the states Assistant Principal of the Year.
Tim is also a Hall of Famer as a Boys Basketball and Football official, a Girls Basketball official and is a member of the Marshalltown Athletic Hall of Fame.
While an active member of the IATO, Tim was chosen by his peers as the 2014 State Cross Country Starter of the Year.
Tim and Dee-anna, his wife of 41 years, still reside in Marshalltown and are the proud parents of 3 children, Ryan, Michael and Carrie; plus grandparents of Liam, Kennedy, Nile, Brooklyn and Hazel