Mr. Stell started his Martial Arts training in 1975 at the age of 9. Along with being the Head of Officials for the IKF he is also an Official Referee and Judge for the California State Athletic Commission. When we don't see him in the ring as head Referee for a Kickboxing bout he is in the ring as Referee for Pro Boxing on broadcast on ESPN, Fox Sports, PPV, Telemundo and other Networks. Mr. Stell is also a Judge for both Pro and Amateur Kickboxing and Boxing. he is also a member of the State of California Martial Arts Board.

Stell's work with the IKF has taken him all over North America as well as around the world to places such as China, Holland, Germany, and Malaysia. As a referee he has shared the ring with some of the Greatest fighters ever such as Don "The Dragon" Wilson, Rick "The Jet" Roufus, Stan "The Man" Longinidis, Cung Le, Rudi Ott, Paul Biafore, Dave Marinoble, Carter Williams, Eric Regan, Kathy "The Punnisher" Long, Stephen "Wonderboy" Thompson, Ramona Gatto, Alex Gong, Enn Fairtex, Shoni Carter, Matee Jedeepitak, Danny "Hard As" Steele, Tommy Bach, Danny Hoyer, Fernando Calleros, Anthony "Powerhouse" Bartinelli, Bao Ligao, Mike Nevitt, Mark "The Hammer" Selbee, Raoul Doucet, Juan "The Ghost Warrior" Torres, Ivan Silva, Francis "Footloose" Farley, Curtis Schuster, Tommy "The Terminator" Kimber, Trent "Thunderfoot" Tompkins, Randy "The Taz" Bussart, Duane "Bang" Ludwig, Trisha "TNT" Hill, Toney "The Hammer" Hannon, Boyd "The Bounty Hunter" Murphy, Saeksan (Saekson) Saengchan Janjura (Janjira), George Tsutsui, Mike "Magicman" Dougherty, Jean-Claude Leuyer, Dan Rawlings, Angela Rivera (Parr), and of course, many Pro boxing Champions such as Montel Griffin, Hector Camacho Jr. Mia St. John, Jessica Rokoski, Jennifer Alcorn, Livingstone Bramble, Paul Nava, Willie Jorrin,

One thing that sets him apart from other officials is that he not only controls the sport as an official but he has "Walked the Walk" himself. He was a 4 time Kickboxing Champion (Before the IKF was founded) and is a 5th Degree Black Belt in the Kajukenbo System. As a Kickboxer, he won all but 2 of his bouts by KO or TKO and in doing so earned his nickname,
"Bam Bam!"
Mr. Stell is no stranger to other Martial Arts competition either. Before his amateur and professional career as a kickboxer he won over 100 point karate tournaments.
However his biggest accomplishment to the IKF was his work in co-founding the organization with current IKF President Steve Fossum in June of 1992. The first IKF event was promoted in August that same summer and featured several of Stell's Kickboxing students who would later become some of the first IKF Champions.
Stell was the person who design the first IKF logo/crest which was similar to the second version of it which is shown at right. Many in the IKF have seen the IKF Crest change several times over the years. Both Stell and Fossum created the foundation of the IKF from their knowledge and experience as past Kickboxers (Over 100 bouts between them and multiple titles), Trainers of Champions and Kickboxing Event Promoters.
In July, of 1996, Stell stepped down as IKF Vice President to pursue other desires. One of them was to step back into the fighting ring again. During this time he fought 2 more kickboxing bouts before officially retiring as a fighter and returning to the IKF in 1998 as Head of Officials