Bell brothers, four others join Dayton Baseball Hall of Fame

Two other players, two umpires round out class.

Terry and Tommy Bell, brothers who played baseball together at Fairmont East High School and Old Dominion University on their way to the pros (Terry appeared briefly in the majors), are two of six new members in the Greater Dayton Baseball Hall of Fame as announced by that organization.

Joining the Bell brothers are two other players — Miamisburg’s Tommy Harrison, who also pitched at UD, and Steve Anderson, also of Fairmont as well as UD — and two umpires, Brandon Kidwell and Lee Barlow, of Springboro and Alter high schools, respectively.

All-Western Ohio League three seasons as a catcher at East, Terry Bell was also all-WOL as a football player and was drafted in the sixth round of the June 1980 draft by Oakland.

Instead of turning pro, Bell opted for a scholarship at Old Dominion, where he was a three-year starting catcher and was named All-Sunbelt and player of the year before being drafted in the first round (No. 17 overall) by Seattle in 1983.

After playing seven years in the minors, highlighted by two brief major league call-ups by the Royals and Braves in 1986 and ’87, Terry returned to Dayton, where he coached at UD, Sinclair and Wilmington while opening a remodeling business with his brother.

Brother Tommy, an infielder, followed a similar path. Although he was not drafted, he was all-WOL two years and as a senior was All-Area, All-State and MVP of the Miami Valley AllStar game.

Also taking a scholarship to play at ODU, Bell followed his baseball passion to the front office, where he worked in the minor leagues for two seasons before returning home to coach and run several baseball camps.

Harrison was a four-year letterman as a pitcher at Miamisburg High school beginning in 1986. As a senior, he was All-State and named pitcher of the year in 1989 as he became the first pitcher to earn a full scholarship to UD.

Harrison was All-MCC three years and most valuable pitcher as a junior and senior.

Undrafted, he played independent baseball for two seasons while working his fast ball up to 96 mph. Signed by the Braves, Harrison worked seven years in the minors, making it to Class AAA before retiring in 2001 and taking a teaching and coaching job in Montpelier, Va., where he now lives.

Anderson attended the combined (East and West) Fairmont High School. He was a three-sport star there, adding wrestling to baseball and football.

Although he had several terrific seasons in high school, it was as a senior he became All-State, posting a .487 batting average to go with 12 home runs.

He then compiled two outstanding seasons at Sinclair before finishing his collegiate career at Cumberland, then UD. In seven years playing in the old DABC Class AA league, Anderson hit better than .300 with 104 home runs. He now works with DMAX manufacturing.

Barlow was a three-sport letterman (baseball, football and basketball) at Alter from 1969-72, starting his umpiring career in 1973. He worked DBC games for 30 years at all levels, and in eight OHSAA State Championship games.

He has already been inducted into the OHSAA Hall of Fame and has been umpire in chief for Kettering Amateur baseball since 1988. He is a retired Dorothy Lane Market frozen food manager.

Kidwell has officiated football, basketball and baseball over the past 20 years, working several state championships, but his longest run has been in baseball, where he umpired OHSAA games for 28 years.

He has also umpired in several NCAA leagues and has made emergency appearances with the professional Dayton Dragons.

Kidwell served as on-field instructor for the Southwestern Umpires Association and currently serves as chief classroom instructor in the Greene County officials Association, He is also a board member of Butler County Officials.

He lives in Germantown and is a supervisor at AM General.