Messel was born in Indiana in a small rural town where he grew up playing baseball and basketball. He moved to the Dogtown neighborhood of South St. Louis after serving in the Army Air Corps during World War Two. He married a St. Louis girl. Messel saw the need to get the youth of Dogtown involved in sports. In 1946, he began coaching baseball and basketball in Dogtown. He started out as a CYC coach for St. James Catholic Church. One year, he was voted CYC Coach of the Year. In 1951, Messel founded the Congo's Boys Club, which was based in Dogtown but included boys from surrounding neighborhoods. It started out as a church youth activity with a few teams and eventually grew into an organization of over 12 teams per season, ranging in age from 7-year-olds to adults. Messel primarily used his own financial resources to fund the teams. The Memorial Congregational Church helped sponsor the Congo's Boys Club. Congo is short for Congregational. Baseball teams that Messel coached won multiple league and tournament championships, and seven Khoury League national championships. Many boys from Dogtown grew up playing for the numerous Congo's teams in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. In 1968, Messel received the Khoury League Meritorious Service Award. In 1989, he was named the Honorary Mayor of Dogtown for the annual St. Patrick's Day Parade.