Former UMD Hockey Player Bob Bell Turns Hockey Sticks Into Walking Canes

If you would like to donate any or if you know someone who needs a walking cane, contact the Duluth Heritage Center.

DULUTH, Minn. – The old saying goes: if you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life. Former UMD men’s hockey player Bob Bell loves hockey, just as much as he loves making things. So he decided to combine his two passions to help out others in the community.

Many people who know Bell would consider him to be quite the handyman.

“Well I like to do stuff with my hands I guess,” Bell said.

After skating for the UMD men’s hockey team in the mid-60’s, the Proctor native taught industrial arts down in the cities and then moved back to Duluth and started his own re-modeling company.

“It’s something I guess that I grew up with just making stuff,” said Bell.

Back in 2016, Bell had major back surgery.

“That kind of screws up a lot of things in your body. And so I guess I needed something for balance and I thought, I’ve got some old sticks and decided to go ahead and try something. I made one for me and a couple of people saw it and said “that’s pretty neat” so I thought I could collect some hockey sticks, make some more and give them away,” Bell said.

But now Bell says he’s running out of sticks. If you would like to donate any or if you know someone who needs a walking cane, contact the Duluth Heritage Center.

“I’m not in it to try and make any money if I can help somebody out. As we get older, we all kind of need these things. So if I can make it a little bit easier for somebody, that’s fine. That’s, I guess, what life is all about, not to take everything you can and to hell with everybody else,” Bell said.