NORFOLK, Va. – In his final at-bat at Bud Metheny Ballpark, Tom Bell drilled a ground ball deep to shortstop, and beat the throw for an infield single. That hustle play is one he will never forget.
The single, which came with two outs and two strikes in the bottom of the 11th, drove in the game-winning run in an 11-10 victory over Western Kentucky in the 1985 Sun Belt Tournament championship game.
He still has the ball he hit on that game-winning single safely tucked away back home in Ohio and will carry the memory of he and his teammates dog-piling on the pitcher's mound for the rest of his life.
So, perhaps it should not have been surprising that when he walked onto the infield at the Bud for the first time in three decades, he was overcome with emotion.
He had just driven his son, Tommy Bell, to ODU on a recruiting visit. The senior Bell stopped at the pitcher's mound, took a knee and buried his head in his hand.
"It hit me hard," Tom Bell said. "I had tears in my eyes. I'm not going to lie.
"It was 30 years later and the fact that my son was going to play here. I thought that was the greatest thing ever."
It surely has been a great thing for ODU.
Tommy Bell, the mustachioed, 6-foot senior, has been a vacuum cleaner for ODU at shortstop, and helped lead the Monarchs to their greatest season ever last season when they advanced to the final of the Columbia, South Carolina NCAA Regional.
And he's been a gamer, a guy who steps up when the games mean more, witness his three-run home run in last season's Conference USA championship game against Louisiana Tech.
He was second on the team in hitting with a .343 batting average and was named MVP of the Conference USA Tournament. Bell, perhaps more than anyone, portrayed the blue-collar, roll-up-your sleeves mentality that helped make ODU an underdog that so many college baseball fans embraced.
He and ODU's other seniors play their final games at The Bud this weekend when the Monarchs host Marshall for three games, beginning Friday at 6. Sunday's game, set for 1 p.m., is Senior Day.
Although Bell was raised in Kettering, Ohio, a 605-mile, 9 1/2-hour drive from ODU, playing baseball in Norfolk has been a family affair.
Willie Biondie, Bell's grandmother's brother, attends every game and nearly every practice. The 79-year-old sits behind the ODU bench, usually in a fedora hat wearing fashionable threads.
He moved to Virginia Beach in 1981 when both Tom and his twin brother, Terry, signed at ODU. He was a ship's steward working out of New York.
"He told me he could do the same thing in Norfolk he did in New York," Tom Bell said.
He was so close with the team in the 1980s that coach Mark Newman allowed him to travel to road games on the team bus.
"Mark Newman would always say, 'Where's Willie?' when the bus was going to take off," he said. "I was usually sitting right behind him."
"I went everywhere," added Biondie, whom the family calls "Uncle Willie."
And for all but a handful of ODU home games, he has been accompanied by Kelley Bell, Tommy's mother. Tom Bell spent the last 18 years coaching at Sinclair Community College team in Dayton and thus missed a ton of his son's games.
"I would often leave on Wednesday or Thursday and tell my husband, 'I'll see you Monday,'" Kelley said.
No matter whether it's cold, rainy or unbearably hot, she and Uncle Willie sit behind the dugout until game's end.
Tom has been able to attend more games this season since he's no longer coaching – Sinclair axed athletics during the pandemic. Although he wants to get back into coaching, he said that it's been a blessing he's not coaching this season.
"I've gotten to see my son play so much more this season," he said. "And that's been awesome."
Tom and Terry run a construction business together in Ohio and Terry also sometimes comes to games. He will be there this weekend for a reunion of that 1985 team on Saturday night.
Their older brother, Ronnie, also lives in Virginia Beach.
"Ohio is our home," Tommy Bell said. "But this is our second home."
Six years ago, then ODU assistant Karl Nonemaker was watching video when he came across one of a shortstop out of Ohio named Tommy Bell. He was rangy, made difficult plays and had a great arm, and could he ever hit.
Mike Marron, ODU's pitching coach, said that set off a mad scramble to see if Tom and Tommy were related.
"I mean, how many Tommy Bells can there be in Ohio who play baseball?" Marron said.
Finwood knew Tom Bell from his time as head coach at VMI when they worked summer clinics together. He called Tom and told him ODU was interested in his son.
ODU wasn't alone. So were Ohio, Air Force, Columbia and Wright State.
Tommy said his father didn't put any pressure on him to sign with ODU. He had a four-day visit to Air Force and loved it there. But later on, as he and his parents were boarding a plane in Arizona after a camp there, he blurted out, "You know what, I think I'm going to Old Dominion.
"I don't know what made me do it, but I did it. And my dad was in tears."
Tommy Bell is an only child and thus has his parents' undivided attention. He was the bat boy at St. Claire and began taking batting practice when he was eight.
"My dad coached me the same way he coached his college guys," Tommy Bell said. "It really helped me develop as a high school player.
"He was tough on me, but he never had to say too much. He knew I was listening to him.
"I watched and listened because he was such a good mentor, a baseball mentor, a life mentor. I'm glad that I listened because it made me the guy I am today.
"I still watch and learn from him. Who doesn't do that with their dad?"
But his inspiration? That's his mother.
"She's the one who motivates me," he said. "She texts me every morning and every night. She tells me good morning and that she loves me.
"She's only missed a handful of games, and that's amazing. She's been almost everywhere we've played."
Kelley sends her son a daily devotional in the mornings from Dr. Charles Stanley.
"When I stopped doing that, he asked me why did you stop? I want to keep seeing them."
Their Christian religion is a big part of what keeps this family tight. Tommy Bell wears a cross around his neck as well as a neck chain that belonged to his grandfather, Bill Whalen.
Whalen passed away just before the 2020 season with pancreatic cancer.
"My father was Tommy's biggest fan," Kelley said. "There was no one like Tommy to him."
The feeling is mutual. Tommy Bell keeps his grandfather's name inside a shin pad.
Last year, when he stepped to the plate against Louisiana Tech, he glanced at his grandfather's name. Earlier this week he said: "I knew I was going to do something big."
He then belted a three-run home run well over the fence. Later, when interviewed on the CBS Sports Network, Tommy said: "To God be the Glory."
"That's my boy," Kelley said. "He's such a special guy."
Amy Lynch is ODU's academic adviser for the baseball team, meaning she keeps up with the academic progress all 43 players and at times, that can be like herding cats.
But not with Bell. He graduated from high school with 3.96 grade point average and has been an academic All-American each of the last five years.
He graduated from ODU last spring with a bachelor's degree in geography with a 3.88 GPA. A couple of B+ grades pulled down his average.
He is working on a master's degree in education and so far, has a 4.0.
"We don't know where he gets that from," Kelley said of his academic achievement. "He didn't get it from us.
"I guess two negatives make a positive."
Lynch said she's seen a lot of Bell this season, but not because he has needed help.
"He's always been one who leads by example," she said. "He always does the right things and people try to emulate him.
"But this year he's done a great job of being a vocal leader. He'll come in and ask, 'Is there anyone I need to check with? Who's struggling this week or who might need a little extra encouragement or who might need some conversations to help them along?'"
Finwood said "he's always where he's supposed to be. He's super dependable. He really cares about the guys on the team.
"He has a servant's heart. He's been an absolute joy to coach."
Tommy Bell wants to teach and coach, and is taking history classes to he can teach both history and geography.
He considers it a calling.
"After everything we've been through with the pandemic, we need more teachers," he said.
After last season, it seemed that Bell would have been a cinch to get drafted, but he didn't and while he had free agent offers from the Kansas City Royals and Cincinnati Reds, they weren't offering nearly enough money.
"He made the decision to return to school and I think it was a good one," his father said.
Tom Bell suffered a series of injuries his senior season, and so, ironically, has his son.
"I always said I hoped he wouldn't have to go through what I went through," Tom Bell added. "But he's close."
Terry Bell managed to get through his ODU career without any major injuries and eventually played a couple of seasons of Major League Baseball.
Being the player who holds ODU's career record for being hit by pitches hasn't helped Tommy Bell. He's been hit 48 times, a few times squarely on the knees. Because of those injuries, Tommy Bell hasn't had the best season of his career – he's hitting .252 with five home runs.
He said he's not expecting to be selected in the major league draft and isn't sure he'll give pro ball a shot.
"I'm a big believer in taking things day by day," he said. "We'll see how things work out."
He said he'll return next fall to finish his master's degree, and to be with his long-time girlfriend, Jessica Pisani, a ODU women's lacrosse player who will be a senior next season.
The Monarchs are also in a bit of a slump. After knocking off nationally ranked Southern Miss twice in three games last weekend, they've lost consecutive home games to VCU and William & Mary.
Tommy Bell said he's convinced that if the Monarchs get hot, they can again go to the NCAA Tournament.
"Last year, we knew we were good and knew how hard we worked," he said. "We knew how much we missed the game when they canceled the 2020 season. That was the story of last season, all of us working hard and really appreciating the game because we were out of it for so long.
"I think this team can go further than last year. We played our best baseball at the end of the season. We need to do that again beginning this weekend."
Bell went through Senior Day once already last season – the NCAA hadn't yet granted everyone an extra year of eligibility because of the pandemic until after last season.
"It was very emotional," he said. "I'm not sure it will feel the same because I've already experienced it once."
But mom and dad acknowledge they will have tears in their eyes.
"It's been an absolute pleasure watching him play," Tom Bell said. "If he can go on and play professionally, that would be awesome.
"If not, he's had a great run and life goes on. He'll be a success in whatever he chooses to do."
Minium: Playing at ODU has Been a Family Affair for Baseball Shortstop Tommy Bell
