Gardiner Bell is the only URI volleyball player to make All-America, win MVP honors in the Atlantic 10 Tournament, and win a gold medal at the U.S. Olympic Festival. She is also one of just two Rams honored as Conference Player of the Year. She led the Rams to a 26-5 record in 1989, the second-best winning percentage ever, and to the first A-10 title and NCAA Tournament berth as a senior in 1991. The league honored her as one of the top athletes of its first quarter century. In 1992 and for the next three years while she rose to number seven in the national professional volleyball rankings, she made television commercials for Gatorade and Coppertone and print ads for Nike and Reebok. Later, she worked as a teacher and coach at North Kingstown High School.
