Percy Bell was a premier distance runner for Oregon Agricultural College (now Oregon State University) in the late 1920's, winning championships and coming through in big meets.
The chemical engineering major from Pasco, WA was a three-year athlete in track and cross country and was also part of several student organizxations on campus. He would win championships in cross country and the 2-mile in the Northern Division and Pacific Coast Conference.
Bell showed promise in 1925, his first year on the track in Corvallis, in the mile and 2-mile. His breakout moment would come the next year at the Drake Relays in Des Moines, IA. Aggie head coach "Dad" Butler made the 4 x 1-mile relay a centerpiece of his program. Bell was not in the group that started an Eastern swing to the Kansas Relays and Drake. When another team member fell ill after Kansas, coach Butler had Bell rushed to Des Moines. Bell ran the leadoff leg for the foresome that won the event and clinched OAC the team title at the biggest collegiate meet in America. The Beaver relay team would later run the fastest time in the US that year in Seattle.
Percy Bell would remain part of that relay through his final year in 1927.
