Brian Bell; Athlete, Journalist and Diplomat

Brian Bell, 80, a star high school and college athlete who became a foreign correspondent and a diplomat with the Department of State, died Oct. 5 at his home in Virginia Beach. He had brain cancer.

Mr. Bell, who played baseball and football for Western High School in Arlington County and at Washington and Lee University, covered political upheaval in South America as a correspondent with the Associated Press and traveled extensively during a 28-year diplomatic career.

He began working in the newspaper business with the Washington Evening Star in 1950 and joined the Associated Press in 1956. As a correspondent with the news service's Buenos Aires bureau, he covered the aftermath of Eva Peron's demise and the abrupt escape of her husband, President Juan Peron, to Paraguay after a military coup; Israel's capture of Adolf Eichmann in a Buenos Aires suburb; uprisings against the president of Paraguay, Alfredo Stroessner; occasional sightings of Josef Mengele, the Nazis' Auschwitz "Angel of Death," in the jungles of Brazil and Paraguay; and record earthquakes in Chile.

In 1960, he began his diplomatic career with the U.S. Information Service. He was a Foreign Service officer in Mexico City; Karachi, Pakistan; Tehran; Dacca, West Pakistan; and later Bangladesh; Lagos, Nigeria; and Santiago, Chile. Back in Washington, he graduated from the Senior Foreign Service Officer Academy.

Mr. Bell participated in planning President and Mrs. John F. Kennedy's 1963 visit to Mexico City and introduced them to President and Mrs. Lopez Mateos at a state function.

On another occasion, he served as special spokesman for the president during Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson's visit to the Dominican Republic. In his final assignment, he served as the first State Department liaison to the U.S. Central Command in Tampa.

He retired in 1987 to Virginia Beach.

Mr. Bell, who was born in Greer, S.C., grew up in Arlington and was an all-star athlete at Western High.

In a 1943 Washington Post article about the matchup between Western and the Roosevelt High School Rough Riders, a sportswriter complimented Mr. Bell's running game as quarterback: "Unlike some of the high school stars who have run rampant over all opposition in past years, Quarterback Bell is not a triple-threat man in the larger sense of the word. He runs, he passes, he kicks, but Bell is a standout because of his running game. At that he excels."

After high school, Mr. Bell served briefly in the Navy during World War II. He graduated from Washington and Lee in 1949 and later was elected to the school's Hall of Fame for his achievements in baseball and football. He was described on the school's Web site as "one of the most exciting athletes in school history."

According to the Web site: "In football, Bell excelled as a two-way back and was a dangerous return man. Bell earned all-state honors his senior year after leading the team in rushing, scoring and interceptions. He still holds school records for kickoff return average in a season (27.2) and career (24.5)."

Mr. Bell was known in baseball as a deadly hitter who possessed a tremendous combination of power and speed. For three consecutive years, starting in 1947, he received all-state honors as a first baseman. He served as captain of the team in 1949. He batted .419 while leading the Southern Conference with six home runs and 22 stolen bases.

After college, Mr. Bell played football briefly with the Washington Redskins and the Detroit Lions. He had just been offered a $5,000 bonus contract with the New York Giants baseball organization when a knee injury ended his professional sports career.

He then pursued a career in journalism, following his father, who was a noted AP sportswriter and Washington bureau chief.

A daughter, Elizabeth Andrews Bell, died in 1980.

Survivors include his wife of 49 years, Sue Ransom Bell of Virginia Beach; two stepsons, Morris E. Flater of Alexandria and Jeff Flater of Chicago; a daughter, Lisa Bell Ashford of Norfolk, Va.; four grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.