Football hall-of-famer Bobby Bell, 74, is a new alum of the recreation, park, and leisure students program (RPLS). He will walk with classmates on today.

Fifty-six years after he boarded an airplane for the first time and arrived on Minnesota’s campus, and 52 years after he left campus for the Chiefs and a job at General Motors, Bell will graduate from Minnesota with a degree in recreation, park and leisure studies. The 74-year-old completed his coursework in December but will walk today.

His anticipated walk has created a well-deserved media frenzy. After a long successful career and tenure at the University, ESPN, MPR and more are eager to hear the legend speak. According to Connie Magnuson, RPLS director, a press conference with Bell will occur this afternoon and the event has already been placed in a larger room than previously reserved.

Bell was enrolled at the U of M in the early 1960s, long before electronic databases were used to track student progress. Mary Ellen Shaw, coordinator of student progress and scholarships in CEHD Student Services, evaluated his transcript by reviewing a College of Education bulletin from the years Bell was enrolled.

While enrolled in the University, Bell was a recreation leadership major. Shaw and Magnuson recommended courses for Bell to fulfill his remaining requirements. Shaw built a grid showing all of the requirements for the degree at the time, and the courses that could logically be applied to the degree requirements. Magnuson worked with Bell to create a nine-credit directed study to fulfill his final credits in the major. Bell describes his coursework in this Pioneer Press article, which included holding a youth football camp in Kansas this past fall. View a video recap of the camp.