Editing Bert Bell (section)

====Final days (1958–1959)====
For the 1958 season, the duration of timeouts was extended from 60 to 90 seconds<ref>Gifford; with Richmond: 121; cf. Maule: 245</ref> and Bell mandated officials call a few ''TV timeouts'' during each game — a change which triggered criticism from sportswriters.<ref>Powers: 84</ref> The [[1958 NFL Championship Game|1958 championship game]] became the first NFL championship game decided in overtime,<ref>Gifford uses literary license when he writes "The overtime rule had been instituted for this game&nbsp;..." p. 210 Gifford; with Richmond: 207–208, 210, 214</ref> and it was considered to be the greatest football game ever played.<ref>{{cite magazine | url=http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1070060/1/index.htm | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121104183044/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1070060/1/index.htm | url-status=dead | archive-date=November 4, 2012 |title=Here's Why It Was The Best Football Game Ever |author=Maule, Tex |date=January 19, 1959 |magazine=Sports Illustrated}}; cf. Gifford; with Richmond: 230</ref> The game further increased football's marketability to television advertising,<ref>Patton: 41</ref> and the drama associated with overtime was the catalyst.<ref>Powers: 88; cf. Gifford; with Richmond: 213</ref> Years later, after witnessing Bell openly crying after the game, [[Raymond Berry]] attributed it to Bell's realization of the impact the game would have on the prevalence of the sport.<ref>Gifford; with Richmond: 229; cf. [http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/28183131/ Greatest Game: Remembering '58 NFL finale] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121012025150/http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/28183131/ |date=October 12, 2012 }}, [http://www.upenn.edu/gazette/0909/pro06.html The Man Who Modernized Pro Football] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100604191358/http://www.upenn.edu/gazette///0909/pro06.html |date=June 4, 2010 }}</ref>

The death of Mara in February {{nfly|1959}} unsettled Bell and he experienced a [[myocardial infarction|heart attack]] later that month.<ref name="LY 308">Lyons: 308</ref> He converted to [[Catholic Church|Catholicism]] that summer<!--1959--> because of the lifelong urging of his wife,<ref name="Lyons_a"/> Mara's death, and his enduring friendship with Rooney,<ref>Ruck; Patterson and Weber: 311</ref> a practicing Catholic.<ref>Rooney; Halaas and Masich: 26; cf. Ruck; Patterson, and Weber: 84</ref> Bell was advised by his doctor to avoid going to football games, to which he quipped, "I'd rather die watching football than in my bed with my boots off."<ref name="LY 308"/> Bell and his children attended an [[1959 Philadelphia Eagles season|Eagles]] game on October 11 at [[Franklin Field]] against the [[1959 Pittsburgh Steelers|Steelers]] (both his old teams).<ref name="LY275">Lyons: 275</ref> The Eagles held complimentary box seats for him and guests to watch the game, but he preferred to buy his own tickets and sit with the other fans.<ref name="LY275"/> Sitting towards the end of the field near the end zone during the fourth quarter of the game, he suffered a fatal heart attack and died later that day at the nearby [[Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania|university hospital]].<ref name=ppgbell>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=CclRAAAAIBAJ&pg=6034%2C1707578|work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |agency=Associated Press |title=NFL head Bert Bell dies at 65 |date=October 12, 1959 |page=1}}</ref><ref name=blczr>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=LXxRAAAAIBAJ&pg=7531%2C1150536 |work=Milwaukee Sentinel |agency=UPI |title=Bert Bell, NFL czar, dies at 65 |date=October 12, 1959 |page=2, part 2 }}{{Dead link|date=December 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author=Bernstein, Ralph |title=Heart Attack Is Fatal To Bert Bell |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=cxosAAAAIBAJ&pg=3432,4791016 |newspaper=[[Times Daily]] |date=October 12, 1959}} Other authors alternately list his age at death (e.g., Ruck p. 313, Lyons p. 306) and his date of death (Lyons p. 306).</ref> League Treasurer [[Austin Gunsel]] was named interim [[History of the NFL Commissioner|NFL commissioner]] for the rest of the season.<ref name=agnabo>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=DMlRAAAAIBAJ&pg=5477%2C2481806 |work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |agency=Associated Press |title=Austin Gunsel named acting boss of NFL |date=October 15, 1959 |page=30}}</ref>

Afterwards, he was remembered as "a man of buoyant joviality, <nowiki> with a rough and ready wit,</nowiki> laughter and genuine humility and honesty, clearly innocent of pretense and <nowiki>[pretension]</nowiki>."<ref>{{cite news | author = Red Smith | title = Bell Never Got Too Big to Laugh at Himself | date = October 14, 1959 | url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=3w0kAAAAIBAJ&pg=1598%2C3308282 | work = Milwaukee Journal | page = 18 | author-link = Red Smith (sportswriter) }}{{Dead link|date=December 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> His funeral was held at Narberth's St. Margaret Roman Catholic Church and Monsignor Cornelius P. Brennan delivered the eulogy, as close friends and admirers attended the mass.<ref name="LY312">Lyons: 312</ref> [[Dominic Olejniczak]] and all the extant owners of the NFL franchises were pallbearers.<ref>{{cite news |title=Bell Funeral This Morning |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=C8lRAAAAIBAJ&pg=3174%2C2256555 |newspaper=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |date=October 14, 1959}}; cf. Lyons: 311–312</ref> Bell was interred at Calvary Cemetery in [[West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania]],<ref>Lyons: 311–312</ref> northwest of [[Philadelphia]].

Bell had named Baltimore Colts owner [[Carroll Rosenbloom]] as his [[executor]]. Bell had been Rosenbloom's [[backfield coach]] at Penn in the early 1950s, and later had convinced Rosenbloom to purchase the Colts after becoming commissioner. Rosenbloom owned the Colts in 1958 when they won the greatest game ever played, and brought greater national attention to the NFL. After Bell's death, Rosenbloom hired Bell's sons Upton and Bert Jr. to work for the Colts.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Boyle |first=Robert H. |date=December 13, 1965 |title=The Pleasure of Dying on Sunday |url=https://vault.si.com/vault/1965/12/13/the-pleasure-of-dying-on-sunday |journal=Sports Illustrated}}</ref>