Riley Bell is very proud to be a graduate of Leon High School. He lettered in 4 varsity sports (football, basketball, track & field and weightlifting), and earned All-State Honors and team captain for football. He played in the Florida vs Louisiana All-Star game and won Offensive MVP. He then played college football at Florida A&M University for Hall of Fame Coach Billy Joe. Bell then continued playing arena football for the Tallahassee Titans Arena Football Team. He graduated from Florida State University in 2009 with a degree in Physical Education, and earned a Masters Degree in Educational Leadership from Saint Leo University in 2011. After college, Coach Bell taught P.E. and Driver’s Education at Leon High School, while also coaching football and track. Coach Bell served as the Dean of Students at Montford Middle School from 2015-2017. From there, he served as Dean of Students at Chiles High School in 2018. In 2019, Coach Bell was blessed with the opportunity to return to Leon High School as Assistant Principal of Facilities. In 2022, he added Athletic Director to his role at Leon High School. Bell was honored to become part of the Leon Football Hall of Fame in 2016. Riley says he is proud to follow in the footsteps of legendary coaches Cox, Sauls, and Feely.

Red and white run through the Bell family veins. Riley married his wife, Jenna Bell, in 2009, who is also a graduate of Leon High School. Riley and Jenna have two children- Farren Rose Bell and Riley William Bell. Jenna has also proudly worked for LCS since 2009, teaching 8th grade Language Arts and serving as Yearbook Advisor at Montford Middle School.

Riley’s father, Ricky Bell, was an assistant football coach at LHS for Coach Gene Cox and Jim Sauls from 1984-1992, where he was the only assistant coach in Leon Football history to become both the Defensive Coordinator and Offensive Coordinator. Ricky was induced into the Leon Football Hall of fame in 2022.

Riley’s grandfather, Erric T. Bell, was a 1949 Graduate of Leon High School. Erric was inducted into the Leon Football Hall of Fame in 2011.

Coach Feely is a 1982 graduate of Buchholz High School in Gainesville, Florida, where he was an all-state football player his senior year. He graduated from Florida State University in 1987 and later earned his Masters Degree in Educational Leadership from FSU. Coach Feely loves working with students and comes from a family of educators. His parents taught together for over 30 years. Coach Feely came to Leon in 1999, and has worked as a Physical Education teacher, Assistant football coach, Head Football Coach, and Head Golf Coach. There have been three Athletic Directors at Leon High School since 1963. Gene Cox, and Jimmy Sauls preceded Coach Feely, who became the Leon AD in 2003.

Coach Feely has been married to Candace since 1990, and is the father of four children, Ashlynne, Leon Class of 2009, Eric, Leon Class of 2012, Ryan, Leon Class of 2014 and Drew, Leon Class of 2019. He has enjoyed time spent with his kids through their attendance at Leon High School. Diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma, in 2009, he is a survivor of two lifesaving stem cell transplants at Shands. Coach Feely is extremely grateful to everyone’s unbelievable support, and he still enjoys going to all of the activities and athletic events at Leon he can. While away from Leon, he enjoys spending time at the family beach home on Anna Maria Island.

Jim Sauls was hired as the head football coach and athletic director by Principal Marvin Henderson in 1991 to replace the retiring Gene Cox. Coach Sauls has the distinction of being a native of Tallahassee, a former Leon football player and a graduate of Leon High School, and a former Leon assistant football coach. Coach Sauls a popular choice for the job, was well trained to serve as head coach, having served as Coach Cox’s top assistant for many years. He continued the traditions of the Leon football program as well as establishing some of his own.

During his head coaching tenure, Coach Sauls compiled a 57-48-0 record, with a district championship in 1997 and a state runner up title in 1992. He served as president of the Florida Athletic Coaches Association and was selected All Big Bend Coach of the Year and Florida Athletic Coaches Association District Four Coach of the Year in 1992. He coached the Florida-California All Star Game in 1994 and 1999.

As athletic director, Coach Sauls has totally supported all sports. Leon has finished in the top five in it’s classification in the Florida Athletic Coaches Association Athletic Program of the Year for fourteen consecutive years. The Lions won the award for having the top athletic program in Florida in 1988, placed second in 1994, third in 1997, and placed third in 1999.

Coach Sauls is a family man; his wife Lynn was a Leon County Schools teacher, and have one son, Jimmy.

Gene Cox, a native of Lake City, Florida, played football at Columbia High School, South Georgia Junior College, and Florida State University. His first job was as an assistant coach at Jefferson County High School in Monticello, Florida. Following his second football season there, he was promoted to head football coach. He compiled a 24-7 record as head coach before moving on to Suwannee High School in Live Oak, Florida for a two year stint and a 17-4 record. In 1963, Gene became the Leon High School Head Coach and Athletic Director, a position that he held until his retirement in 1990.

Coach Cox learned early the importance of adjusting his offensive systems to his personnel available. He installed the wing T formation with his first Leon team because he had five outstanding running backs — Chuck Eason, Bobby Adams, Dennis James, Dan Searcy, and Bain Culton. Then in 1967, with two All Americans — quarterback Billy Sexton and tailback Keith Gilbert, Leon changed to the run and shoot offense. In 1969, with an all junior backfield of Doug Cooksey, Mike Norman, John Grigg, and Richard Sykes, the Lions went to the triple option attack using the wishbone offense. The result was a string of consecutive victories and a state championship.

Beginning with Sexton in 1967, Leon used a drop back passing offense. In the later years Leon Principal Mike Conley referred to Coach Cox as a “specialist in developing quarterbacks,” as every quarterback for the next sixteen years received a college scholarship. In 1969 and 1970, Doug Cooksey led Leon to twenty-five consecutive victories. In 1972 quarterback Wayne Folsom passed to receiver Mike Shumann. In 1973 and 1974 quarterback Wally Woodham led Leon to twenty-three vicories and another state championship. In 1975 Jimmy Jordan passed for 4,098 yards, a national record, with most receptions going to receiver Kurt Unglaub. Other quarterback include Don Deloach, Blair Williams, Tony Robinson, James Thompson, Cy Williams, Moses Collins, John Haley, and Burt Newman. No wonder many journalists referred to Leon’s football program as a quarterback factory.

In 1981, with the addition of Tanner and Darrin Holloman as running backs, Leon changed to a multiple offense. The offense consisted of the drop back passing game, the misdirection running plays and play action passes of the wing T, the power plays of the I formation, and the use of motion and many formations of the run and shoot offense. In the late 1980’s, running backs Kelvin Randolph, Tony Lomack, Mike McClenton, and Tamarick Vanover were state rushing leaders.

Under Cox, the Lions set a school record for consecutive victories, running off twenty five straight wins in the 1968, 1969, and 1970 seasons. On two other occasions, Leon won sixteen straight games. In 1984-1985, the Lions had a nineteen game win streak. Four of his players earned the state’s highest honor, “Florida’s Prep Player of the Year.” They were Keith Gilbert (1967), Wally Woodham (1974), Jimmy Jordan (1975), and Tony Robinson (1981). Including Jay Hall’s selection in 1948, Leon has had a record number of five selected for this prestigious honor.

Motivational activities were a strong component of the total football program at Leon.  Pictures of scholarship winners and plaques designating awards were hung so that the athletes could see them daily. Inspirational speakers from the community were invited on a regular basis to talk to the players, and a “hold to the rope” ceremony reminded team members to pull together. Daily prayer was important to the team and traditions such as burying a dime at the fifty yard line before each game reminded payers to give 110 percent effort.

During the Cox regime, Leon became the winningest team in the history of Florida prep football. Coach Cox, his staff and his Leon Lions compiled a record of 238 wins, 67 loses and 3 ties, an average of just under 9 wins a year for twenty eight years. The honors include winning two state championships, two state runners-up titles, seven regional championships, eight conference championships, fourteen district championships, and five bowl titles. Ten players were named as first team High School All Americans, thirteen were All Southern High School players, and twenty seven players earned All State honors in the years from 1963-1990.

During the Cox regime Leon High School set an unprecedented record for number of wins in an eleven year period. For the years of 1969 through 1979 Leon’s record was 108 wins, twenty losses, and one tie, which was an eighty four percent winning percentage. Also, during this era, Leon had eight undefeated and untied regular seasons — 1967, 1969, 1970, 1972, 1974, 1981, 1982, 1985.

Coach Cox retired with a career record of 313-100-4 and the distinction of being the winningest football coach in Florida prep history.

Coach Gene Cox is married to the former Patsy Orr, who taught health, science, and physical education. Their four children are David, Alan, Gary, and Cynthia. All three boys played football for Leon, Cynthia played softball and excelled as a member of the Leon Swimming team.