by By Dan Ninham, contributing writer
Ethan Bell, is Gros Ventre and Assiniboine. He attends Miles Community College and is a graduate of Chinook High School, Montana, class of 2021.
During high school the team had an 82-15 record, he scored 1164 career points, was a two-time Montana all state basketball selection, two-time all conference selection, and HIT tournament team.
Bell’s indigenous core values help lead him to finding success on the court. “Family is a big core value to me,” said Ethan Bell. “I do this for my close family and loved ones. Any time I’m lacking motivation I think of how many people would want to be in this position and it changes how I view it. Honor is another big one. To be at this level and to have the opportunity to compete is an honor unlike many.”
Chad Jones was one of the assistant coaches during Ethan’s time at Chinook High School. Coach Jones talked about Ethan’s high school varsity team leadership skills and how these are helping him at MCC. He said, “Ethan always seemed to have the ability and work ethic to lead by example. He wasn’t one to ask others to do something he wasn’t willing to do. It takes a high level of self-motivation to continually get better as a player and I’ve always had a lot of respect for the amount of time he was willing to dedicate to continually improving his game. And, that dedication and leadership has helped him move to a higher level of basketball where he is continuing to gain success.”
Chase Tait, Head Men’s Basketball Coach at Miles Community College said: “Ethan has had a rough couple of years at MCC to this point. His freshman year he had to deal with the passing of a relative and close friend. His sophomore year, he suffered a season ending foot injury in the second week of practice. He is having a strong season to this point for Pioneers.”
Bell’s mentors are family members’ mom Joan LaTray and big brother Isaac Bell. He said, “None of my success would be possible without my mom. The sacrifices she made not only for me but my older brother Isaac is something that I will never get to repay her for. In all qualities of life, she taught me all of them. Everything I accomplish is for her and I just want to continue to make her proud. She is the sole reason I am who I am today and I wouldn’t be anything relevant without her.”
“My brother Isaac Bell is also one of my biggest mentors,” said Bell. “We grew up together, everything I’ve accomplished he accomplished it before me. It started out with us as little kids playing one on one in the driveway every single day. I couldn’t get a shot over him and couldn’t dribble past him either, so I had to develop floaters and the ability to shoot from far behind the three point line.”
“I also had to develop a natural instinct with how to take care of the ball and not turn it over. All of my skills that I’ve developed over the years came from playing against him. I always wanted to do what he did with accomplishments. If there’s no Isaac, there’s no Ethan,” added Bell.
“Even though I’ve lived in Chinook my whole life, I still take great pride in representing the Gros Ventre and Assiniboine tribes,” said Bell. “I fell in love with the game in early elementary school and haven’t looked back since. I was on varsity my entire childhood. We made it to state in 2019 for the first time in 33 years.”
Bell shared some personal things that he has dealt with and kept to myself over the past two years.
Bell said, “In September of 2021, I got to Miles City to finally begin to live out my dream of playing college basketball. On September 24th of that month. I was sitting in the library doing homework until I got a call from a classmate in school. I received the news that one of my closest friends, who is also my cousin, Hailey Bell, had taken her own life and had passed away.”
“I can’t describe how I felt in that moment, I was lost, confused, sad, and angry, I was every bit of every emotion in that moment. I’ll be honest I fell into depression, and I wasn’t going to class after that,” added Bell.
He continued to talk about the state of emotion that he was during this sad time. He said, “I couldn’t really be in public after because I just couldn’t control my emotions very well at all. I tried seeing a counselor, I tried a lot of things to help myself and none of them seemed to really work. It was hard because I had a whole community behind me cheering me on and on the inside I just felt hopeless and empty.”
“Time went on and I started to ask myself what would Hailey want for me? She wouldn’t want me to be all sad and emotional over this, she would want me to continue chasing my dreams and to never give up, knowing that is one of the biggest reasons I’m still at this,” added Bell.
After a long and tough year, Bell finally was set to begin his second season at Miles Community College. Everything was going well until during preseason he was running and went to jump stop and planted wrong and felt an immediate sharp pain in his foot.
“It turned out that I had torn a tendon in my foot with some ligament damage, and also suffered severe nerve damage,” said Bell. “This would keep me out the entire season. After that tough first year, I felt like I was finally somewhat back in the right mindset for a season and then that happened. It was tough, I felt like I was letting myself down, but the thing was that all I needed was a chance.”
“Our team struggled and I had to watch from the sideline with nothing to do about it. My mind definitely wandered all over the place last year. As the one year ago memories came up about Hailey, I started to drift back to how I was during that time period. Finally getting cleared in February definitely helped things as I got back on the court 100% and have taken off since,” added Bell.
“After a long hard two years, it feels amazing to say that I’m currently playing the best basketball of my entire life and have been the happiest since I can remember,” said Bell. “The point I wanted to make by sharing that information is that tough times don’t last forever, keep striving, if things aren’t okay right now, then it’s not the end. I just want to motivate those kids out there that anything is possible.”
Bell has advice for others who deal with adversity while competing on a team. He said, “It doesn’t matter what school you play for, where you’re from, what you have or don’t have, as long as you have that relentless drive and do it with a purpose then anything is possible.”
The Miles Community College Pioneers are 9-3 heading into final games before the winter break and recently defeated United Tribes on the road 106-98. Bell had 10 assists and when a player has double digit or high single digit assists that means he makes others better.
Photo: MCC Athletics
Ethan’s mother and grandmothers have been friends of mine for many years. I have worked with both of them as well. They are strong women with strong and beautiful hearts. Joan has always expected a lot of her sons; and has given them everything she could. I am proud to know them. Isaac and Ethan are outstanding young men.
Thank you Mary Clair
Joan has raised the most incredible boys! So incredibly proud of her and them💖