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Taylor H. A. Bell
Taylor H. A. Bell was born in Blue Island, Illinois, in 1940. He graduated from Blue Island Community High School (now Eisenhower) in 1958. He graduated from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign in 1962 with a bachelor's degree in LAS (English). While attending Illinois, he worked at the Daily Illini, the student newspaper, for four years and was sports editor as a junior and senior. He worked at the Champaign-Urbana Courier from 1962 to 1966. He worked at the St. Louis Globe-Democrat from 1966 to 1968. He joined the Chicago Daily News as its high school sports editor in September, 1968. When the Daily News closed in 1978, he joined the Chicago Sun-Times as its high school sports editor. He retired in 2001. He blogged for the Sun-Times and Comcast Sports Net Chicago. He has written four books - Sweet Charlie, Dike, Cazzie, and Bobby Joe: High School Basketball in Illinois, University of Illinois Press, 2004; Glory Days Illinois: Legends of Illinois High School Basketball, Sports Publishing, 2006; Football's Second Season: Scouting High School Game Breakers, with Tom Lemming, Sports Publishing, 2007; Dusty, Deek, and Mr. Do-Right: High School Football in Illinois, University of Illinois Press, 2010. He was inducted into the Chicago Journalism Hall of Fame in 2001; the Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame in 2002, the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association's inaugural Hall of Fame in 1973, and the Illini Media Company's inaugural Hall of Fame in 2006, received the Arch Ward/Warren Brown Award for excellence sports journalism in 1980, received the Red Smith Award for excellence in sports journalism in 1986, received the National High School Federation's distinguished service award in 1983, received the Ring Lardner Award for distinguished service in sports journalism in 2005, received the Jacob Scher Award for outstanding achievement in investigative reporting in 1983 and was named the United Press International's Sportswriter of the Year in Illinois in 1979. He lives on Chicago's Near North Side with his wife, Gail.