Warren ‘Bullet’ Bell’s forte was basketball, and the Findlay High School ball-handling wizard played it well enough to earn a three-year contract with the Fort Wayne Zolner Pistons. He joined this team, predecessor to the Detroit Pistons, after World War II.

Unfortunately, Bell’s professional career was shortened by a shoulder injury. Bell’s roots were in Findlay, where he graduated from Findlay High School after being named All-Ohio in basketball for three consecutive years (1938-1940). He led the Carl Bachman coached Trojans to the state tournament each season. Bell was awarded a scholarship to play at Ohio State University (1940-1941) and started on the freshmen team before volunteering for military duty.

He went on to play for the all-Army basketball team. Famous NBC sportscaster Bill Stern once called ‘Bullet’ Bell one of the five outstanding players in the United States. Bell, who married Findlay’s renowned golfer in 1953, moved to North Carolina that same year and purchased a Donald Ross golf course. He went on to design and build the now famous Pine Needles Resort in Southern Pines, North Carolina.