H e is the most revered central defender that schoolboy football has ever seen.

At age 15 he led his school, Kingston College, to the coveted football triple championship in 1975, a feat not since repeated by the school. His coach at the time, the legendary George Thompson, stated that he is in a class by himself, and that he is the best player he ever coached. For many, he is simply the GOAT – the greatest of all time – central defender schoolboy football competition in Jamaica as ever seen. His name is Douglas “Dougie” Bell, and he was recently honoured by the Kingston College Old Boys Association (New York Chapter) at their 35th Annual Reunion & Awards Banquet held earlier this year in Queens, New York.

Born on September 19, 1959 in Kingston, and a member of the popular Bell family, perhaps Jamaica’s most famous footballing family, he first attended Rollington Town Primary School before enrolling at Vauxhall Junior Secondary School. Athletically gifted (a trait which he traces to his Cuban mother, Sybil who was an outstanding baseball and softball player), he excelled in both cricket and football under the guidance of Vauxhall sportsmaster, Eric Williams.

“Dougie was a great player and his ball intellect was extremely high, and he knew how to stay onside and be at the right place at the right time. We knew he would score in virtually every game”, says Williams as he gleefully recalls the exploits of the young phenom who played as a forward at Vauxhall. “He didn’t talk much and was the youngest and by far the best player on the team, and could play any position.”

While at Vauxhall, Bell won the Junior Secondary School football triple championship (city, county and national titles), which would prove to be a prelude to even greater accomplishments in the future.

“I recall when my brother Howie came home after winning the Manning Cup in 1970. I saw the whole atmosphere and it triggered something inside me, and there and then I said to myself: ‘One day I will win the Manning Cup at KC’”, recalls Dougie.

In 1973, Dougie’s dream was realised when he followed the footsteps of his older brother, Howard “Howie” Bell and enrolled at KC. “I was sitting in class at Vauxhall one day and saw a man approaching my classroom. The man entered the classroom and spoke to my teacher, and the teacher called me to the front of the class and I went to the office with the man. The man was no other than Jimmy Richards (former KC cricket coach) who literally took me from my classroom at Vauxhall and arranged for my transfer to KC!”

“Dougie was way ahead of his time. He read the game well, was very intelligent, had a high work rate, and hated to lose. We started out in the Santos Under-15 team where we won the SDC competition in 1972, and were reunited in the Juvenile team in 1976. Over time, we became more than just fellow footballers; we became friends”, says former Vere, Santos and Jamaica national player, Clive Spencer.

At KC, his prodigious talent was immediately evident to the great George “George T” Thompson, and Dougie earned not just a place on the 1973 champion Colts team, but also on the Manning Cup squad in as well, and would remain a fixture on the Manning Cup team during his tenure at KC. “George T was the most instrumental person in my development. We clashed a lot, and at one point I thought he didn’t like me because he didn’t talk to me much or give me instructions. Then one day we sat down and spoke, and I asked him why he did not give me instructions like he did all the other players, and he said to me: ‘Douglas, you do what you are supposed to do and you do it very well; there is nothing for me to tell you’”.

An accomplished cricketer, he also played both Colts and Sunlight Cup cricket, and the full range of his immense talents was on full display when he donned the wicketkeeping gloves one day in practice when the wicketkeepers in the squad could not handle the lead fast bowler, Billy Hunter. From then on, Dougie became the team’s wicketkeeper. While at KC, Dougie also won Colts and Sunlight cricket championships under the leadership of Jimmy Richards.

He credits Manning Cup teammates, Lorne Donaldson and Balfour “Bally” Reid, as two players who were positive influences and helped him during his early years at KC, and the late George “Atlas” Headley, former West Indies Test cricket great, for mentoring him while at Lucas Cricket Club.

After a heart-breaking 0-1 loss to Jamaica College in the 1974 Manning Cup final, KC rebounded in 1975 to defeat JC 1-0 in the Manning Cup final; 2-1 over JC in the Walker Cup final, and then trounced the star-studded Vere Technical High School 6-0 on aggregate in the Olivier Shield, which included the late Noel Rhudd’s brilliant hat-trick in the famed 5-0 drubbing at the National Stadium in the return leg.

“In Christmas 1975, coach George T came to my house and personally hand-delivered a Christmas card and when I opened the card, the words ‘Job well done’ were written inside. That was very gratifying,” Bell said.

Other accolades followed as Dougie was selected to the Jamaica Juvenile team and in 1976 travelled to Puerto Rico to represent Jamaica (where he was approached by professional scouts, but his mother felt he was too young at the time to go overseas); won the Minor League and Major League titles with Harbor View in 1976 in tandem with the late Keith Cunningham from Wolmer’s at the centre half position (which meant that two 17-year-olds played as central defenders in a Major League championship final, a feat that was never achieved before or after; and won the Walker Cup in 1977 by defeating Wolmers 2-1, paced by goals from Selwyn “Sala” Lewis and Girvan Walters.

“Dougie’s ability to read the game and his passing ability were outstanding, and he was deceptively quick and probably could have done tracks”, says Colts and Manning Cup teammate Robert “Rodo” Rodney.

Rodney’s sentiments are shared by former Jamaica national team captain, and the most capped Jamaican footballer, Anthony “Badas” Corbett.: “I saw Dougie in Manning Cup in 1976-77 and his ability to read the game was exceptional. I always admired him and one of my biggest regret is that I didn’t get to play with him as he was a role model for me. I met him in person in New York in the early 2000s and it is great to finally meet him and talk with him. His intelligence, humility and care for people stood out.”

After graduating from KC, Dougie secured a football scholarship to Alabama A&M University where he teamed up with Jimmy Sinclair, Luke Whitney, Wayne Cargill, and a few other Jamaican players, to win the NCAA national title.

More professional offers came in, among them from the legendary English coach, Brian Clough, but Dougie remained in college. “Dougie was one of my closest friends. He was very steadfast and solid on and off the field. His ability to intercept passes and start the attack was phenomenal, and a big part of our success as a team at Alabama; I don’t know how our defence would have managed without him. He was good at his craft and you could rely on him. It was a pleasure to play with him and I consider him a dear friend to this day”, says former college and Juvenile teammate, Jimmy Sinclair.

His former schoolmate and friend, Marlon “Shaggy” Tucker, the great Jamaican cricketer, suggested: “When he left KC we thought it would take another 15 or 20 years before we saw another one like him. Well, it’s now 41 years and we have yet to see his equal. He is without question the best I have ever seen.”

Upon graduating from Alabama, Dougie eventually moved to New York where he continued to play and win numerous titles with the famed Mandela football team, the KCOBA New York team, and the Bank of New York.

“I played against Dougie in Manning Cup in 1975, and met him through Dave Stewart. I got closer to him because his mother liked me. There is what I call the ‘miseducation regarding Douglas Bell’ where people have a certain image of him. However, there is another side of Dougie. He is a phenomenal person who respects his opponents, never trash talks although he is very competitive, and he is a good sportsman who never celebrates in public. I remember seeing him walk off the field at the National Stadium with his head down after Harbour View had just won the Major League title; you would have thought he had lost. It’s a great loss for those who do not know him as a person”, says Peter “Butch” Mathis, former Calabar Manning Cup player, and longtime friend of Dougie.

“Of all the coaches he went through, I was the only one who really understood him. You have to understand, his mind was different from everybody else, therefore, he processed the game differently, what he saw in an instant would take the average player all game to see. He is the best reader of the game I have ever seen, and the only player I saw that could turn a tackle into a pass in one motion, similar to what Franco Baresi would do; he was just phenomenal. It gave me goosebumps watching him, and I consider him in the same breath as Franco Baresi. The level of football in New York was extremely high and he made everyone around him better, and would make teams pay for committing too many players forward. His transition game was awesome, and he took counter-attacking to another level. When you have a player like that, you don’t try to coach him, you just let him play”, says former coach, Bobby Anderson, who coached Dougie in New York.

However, while Dougie has had a distinguished career as a footballer, he has also experienced the heartache and tragedies of life: His mother died earlier this October at age 93 and will be buried in Jamaica on November 2; his older brother and former Jamaica national team coach, Jackie Bell (along with then-national Juveniles coach, Dennis Ziadie), lost his life in a bus accident while attending the 1986 World Cup in Mexico; he lost his son Andre in New York a few years back; and he suffered a minor heart attack in 2015. “Jackie was not just a brother, but also a mentor. The death of my son was devastating but the support from family and friends was overwhelming and helped me get through it,” Bell said.

“Douglas Bell is one of the premier football players that Jamaica has ever produced. (Winston) Chung-Fah, the former Jamaica national youth coach (now deceased) begged the JFF to keep the 1976 Juvenile team he was on, together, as they were very talented. Dougie was way ahead of his time and played the game mentally. Weber (former KC centre half) was a good reader of the game, but Dougie was an even better reader. He could play on any team (and did), including the national team, as a youth”, says Hugh Bailey, former Camperdown, Boys’ Town, and Jamaica national team member.

The soft-spoken, youthful looking legend considers his greatest achievements to be: winning the triple championship with KC; representing Jamaica at all levels; being honoured by the KCOBA NY Chapter; and finishing college with his degree.

Content and in good health, he is actively engaged with the KCOBA and travelled to Jamaica last year to see the 2018 Manning Cup final (the first time he has attended a Manning Cup game since leaving KC) where he gave the Manning Cup team a pre-game pep talk prior to their dramatic victory over St George’s College in the final to break a 32-year-old championship drought. “Nothing compares to it”, says Bell.

He also travelled to Florida for the 2018 and 2019 Big Purple Session, and again to Jamaica for ‘Champs’ 2019.

Bell and his family reside in New York.