Cascade community mourns loss of Ryan Bell, a two-sport athlete with 'heart of gold.'
His nickname started out as a mistake.
Jordan Galliher, at the time an assistant football coach at Cascade High School, first thought Ryan Bell’s last name was “Bill.” After a few of those mispronunciations at practices early in his freshman season, Bell had a new nickname: “Dolla.”
“He was the kind of kid who might not have had a lot, but would give you the shirt off his back,” said Michael Hutchison, a wrestling teammate of Bell’s at Cascade. “He would do anything for anybody. One of the kindest people you could meet in your life.”
Bell, 17, died Monday in a single-vehicle accident on U.S. 40 near Stilesville in Hendricks County. According to the Hendricks County Sheriff’s Office, Bell was traveling eastbound when his vehicle left the highway and struck a tree. Deputies were called to the scene at 6:20 a.m. and Bell – the only occupant of the vehicle – was pronounced dead at the scene.
According to his friends and coaches, Bell was driving to catch the bus to start his school day at Area 31 Career Center at Ben Davis. Bell, set to start his senior year at Cascade, would have had his first official high school football practice Monday afternoon.
“They don’t prepare you for that as a teacher or coach,” Cascade football coach Connor Simmons said. “We talked as a staff about canceling practice, but we felt it was better to keep the kids together and not (be) secluded from everything. Every kid has a story about Ryan Bell. There’s not a word or statement that can make it all better, but the biggest thing you can ask is for the kids to be there for one another. Ryan would have been the one to do that. He had a heart of gold.”
Bell, at 5-4, 170 pounds, was “an underdog” on the offensive and defensive lines, Simmons said. But one of the last times Simmons saw him, Bell said he was “coming for that starting job.”
“There was nothing negative about him,” Simmons said. “He always had a grin and he was the life of the team. He fought for everything he got. He was the epitome of the type of competitor you want as a coach.”
Cascade wrestling coach Gabe Dunham echoed Simmons’ thoughts. Though Bell, who was planning to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps after graduation, wrestled primarily at the junior varsity level, he did factor into some varsity meets and was steadily becoming stronger due to his hard work in the weight room.
“And he was always the loudest one cheering for his teammates,” Dunham said.
Travis Hutchison, an assistant wrestling coach, coached Bell in youth football going back to first and second grade. He remembered him at the time as “a small and scrawny kid with a smile on his face.” But that scrawny kid stuck with it and became a valuable and respected teammate.
“He was pretty timid on the football field at first,” said Hutchison, whose sons Michael and Carter played on teams with Bell at various times. “But you fast-forward to Ryan’s high school days and I’m not sure there was anyone who had more confidence. He never backed down from a challenge and was extremely confident with anything he tried to take on. Last year on the wrestling mat, Ryan came out of his shell competitively and contributed a lot to our team.”
Bell often came to Michael Hutchison for wrestling advice. Hutchison, who graduated in June, was the captain for the wrestling team. Hutchison said he heard about Bell’s accident Monday morning while he was at work as a forklift operator.
“My heart sank,” Michael Hutchison said. “He was a character. It’s hard to find people, especially our age, who really know who they are. You knew what ‘Dolla’ was about.”
When Bell wasn't on the field, he loved taking care of plants and animals and working on cars. This is one of the things that Bell’s mother, Denise Bell, remembers most about him: he took any chance he could to “get his hands dirty.”
An image she goes back to in her mind is Bell sitting atop Wrangler, a brown-haired donkey. He was 8 years old at the time and had not yet grown into his glasses. He was small — always the smallest in his class and on the Little League football team — but he loved to be part of the action.
Growing up, Bell lived on a farm in Belleville and would help his mother feed the animals. There was one chicken he was particularly fond of as a 4-year-old. He would feed her with the other chickens and carry her around with her head resting on his shoulder. For about five years, starting in third grade, Bell showed pigs at the Indiana State Fair 4-H competitions.
Bell’s care for animals was just one example of the love he showed toward every living thing around him. Bell had an “ability to accept anybody into his life,” Simmons said.
And like most teenagers, he loved to eat, Denise Bell said. After football games, Denise Bell would pick up his favorite cheese pizza before he knocked out. His favorite homecooked meal was her Salisbury steak. Bell would pile his plate up with three patties and a mound of mashed potatoes.
Now, Denise Bell wades through messages from Bell’s teachers, coaches, teammates and friends, each one with a different story of how Bell impacted them. One teacher shared how Bell once sang one of his favorite country songs for the whole class, getting the rest of the kids to sing along.
“My head is swimming,” Denise Bell said; this outpouring of love from everyone Bell knew is the send-off her son deserves.
A GoFundMe set up for funeral expenses for Bell’s family had already surpassed $10,000 as of Wednesday afternoon. Services will be 1 p.m. Saturday at Grace Baptist Church in Coatesville with burial to follow in the Danville South Cemetery. Visitation will be from 10 a.m. until the service begins in the church.
Denise Bell asked for teammates of her son to dress casual or wear jerseys to the service. “He would love for all to show the support for the team,” she said. “He loved playing for Cascade. He was an amazing young man that will truly be missed.”
In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to Cascade athletics.
“He was loved by his teammates,” Dunham said. “I don’t think you would ever find anybody who had a bad thing to say about him. It’s so sudden and shocking. You keep hoping it isn’t true.”
Call Star reporter Kyle Neddenriep at (317) 444-6649.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Cascade mourns loss of Ryan Bell, 2-sport athlete with 'heart of gold.'
