BP native makes positive difference at Canon-McMillan
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Canon-McMillan boys basketball coach Rick Bell speaks with Drew Engel during practice. Bell won more than 400 games before retiring in 2019.
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
After 31 years, Rick Bell announced his retirement from coaching. He spent the past 18 years at the helm of the boys’ basketball program at Canon-McMillan. Prior to that, he coached 13 successful seasons at Peters Township. He compiled a 428-316 career record.
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac Sports
Rick Bell motions to his players during Canon-McMillan’s win against Bethel Park.
People impact everyone they encounter. The degrees just differ.
Rick Bell maintains that opinion. He once overhead two kids in a store discussing what would be written on their tombstones. One of them said “he made a difference” and Bell thought,”Well, we all make a difference.” It can either be positive or negative, he reasoned.
Immediately, Bell embraced his epitaph. “I want to make a positive difference,” he emphasized.
For more than 30 years, the Bethel Park native has influenced his players and pupils, positively. Currently, he serves as a social studies teacher and boys basketball coach at Canon-McMillan after a 14-year stint at Peters Township. Recently, he posted his 400th career victory, which ironically came against his alma mater. Heading into action this week, he’s at 411 wins and counting.
“When I meet my maker,” Bell began, “I don’t think God will ask how many games I won. He will want to know what kind of person you were and how many people you tried to help along the way. I hope my students and players walk away saying I made a positive difference in their lives.”
Bell sees and hears that when his former players return and tell him they got into education or coaching because of the experience they had with him. He, too, has done the exact same thing to his mentors.
The oops moment
For Bell, it all started 53 years ago. Born May 10, 1964, Marie and Anthony (Bud) Bell’s fourth son arrived after a 13-year hiatus in their childbearing years. At the time, the family lived in Castle Shannon. Buddy, the oldest, became a brigadier general in the Air Force. He is retired and lives in Florida. Denny, who played football at Dormont High School, resides in Upper St. Clair. His daughter, Megan, plays volleyball at Robert Morris University. Bob, who played basketball at Keystone Oaks, resides in Burgettstown. Denny and Bob worked in the car business before retiring.
Rick Bell said the boys learned their work ethic from their parents.
“It was nice to have three older brothers who took you under their wing and showed you the way,” Bell said. “I learned so much from my brothers but we all learned a great lesson from our parents. You might be stronger, faster or taller than me but there is no reason in the world why anybody would out-work you. I’ve taken that lesson with me into coaching. We are going to out-work you.”
Despite the death of his father from a heart attack when he was only 7, things worked out for Bell once the family settled into Bethel Park and he met the legendary Red Ryan, who became his high school coach. During his two-year stint as a starter, Bell played at the Pitt Fieldhouse and the former Civic Arena as the Hawks advanced deep into the playoffs, reaching the district and state semifinals.
Bell acknowledges Ryan played a critical role in his career. Except for his patented whistle that grabbed his players’ attention, Bell learned “all he knows” from Ryan, including how to treat people and to be a “gentleman” at all times, even in the face of defeat.
“Coach Ryan had the greatest influence on my life,” Bell said. “He is the reason why I am a coach and a teacher at the high school level.”
Roundabout route
Bell took a circuitous route to his career. Recruited at one time by Duquesne University and Division II and III programs, Bell attended the Naval Academy Prep School in the hopes of gaining better offers from Division I programs.
“I went there for all the wrong reasons,” he said of the military academy. “You should go there because you want to be an officer and serve your country. So I did what Chuck Noll encouraged his players to do. I got on with my life’s work.”
Knowing he was not good enough to play there because the university was moving into the Big East Conference, Bell attended Pitt and earned a degree in secondary education with an emphasis in social studies. He is now head of the department at Canon-McMillan and teaches psychology courses and leadership classes.
Upon his graduation from Pitt in 1988, Bell embarked on his coaching career. He served as a graduate assistant at Pitt and did a stint at St. Francis in Loretto.
“Obviously, I got involved in coaching because I loved the game of basketball,” he said, “but college coaching opened my eyes. It is not as glamorous as you see it on TV. I was not cut out to be a college coach.”
Since Bell was doing his student-teaching at Peters Township, and he enjoyed that, he settled into the high school world to coach.
After spending two seasons as an assistant girls basketball coach at his alma mater, Bell made the jump to boys basketball, joining Rick Stellfox’s staff at Peters Township. When Stellfox left for a better opportunity in the financial planning business, Bell, at 22, became one of the youngest head coaches at the time. In 13 seasons, he guided the Indians to 11 WPIAL and five PIAA playoff appearances. His teams won six section titles.
Bell recalls his most memorable season was when the Indians posted a 26-4 record in 1997. The squad featured Teal Stellfox at point guard; Tim Montgomery, who played soccer at Pitt, at the No. 2 guard slot; Tony Dominick, who now teaches at Canon-McMillan Middle School; Pete Smith at small forward; Henry Klinar, who is a fourth-grade travel coach in the Canon-McMillan School District. Ryan Happe and Matt Luckhart served as key reserves.
“We had lost in overtime to Blackhawk in the WPIAL semifinals and then made a run in the state tournament,” said Bell of what he remembered as the start of one of the best weeks of his life. The Indians beat Peabody on a Tuesday. His daughter, Angela, now 20, was born on a Thursday and Peters Township lost in double overtime on Friday to the Colts.
“It was an awesome week, and I think the farthest a team from Peters Township advanced, but for my daughter to be born during that run was pretty special.”
Special family
Family is special to Bell. He married his wife, Mary, Aug. 5, 1989. In addition to Angela, who is a junior at Duquesne aspiring to be an educator like her father, the couple has one son. R.J. is named for his dad, Richard, and Bell’s father-in-law, James Palmer, who was the beloved principal at Seton-La Salle High School. R.J. is an 18-year-old freshman on the Geneva College basketball team.
“My wife deserves a medal for putting up with me,” Bell said with a laugh. Then he drew serious about the closeness of the clan. “This is going to sound syrupy but my wife is my best friend and our kids, like a lot of parents, I’m a big believer that when you have children it’s not about the legacy you leave as a teacher or a coach but the type of kids you raised. We get compliments about the people our kids are, not the students or athletes they were.”
Health has prevented some of Bell’s teams at Canon-McMillan to excel, but that’s not a problem this winter. The Big Macs are on their way to winning their first section championship since 1973. They are 9-1 in the section and 18-1 overall. That record exceeds the victories by C-M’s 1973 team, which finished 16-6 overall after falling to Keystone Oaks, 61-53, in the first round of the WPIAL playoffs.
Since his 2008 team reached the Elite Eight in the WPIAL tournament and qualified for the state playoffs, the Big Macs have suffered several tragic setbacks. They lost an assistant coach, Brian Anselmino, in a fatal car accident. Former player Chad Hagan experienced a cardiac problem during another season. And, former player Luke Blanock was diagnosed with cancer and later died.
Bell, who was hired at Canon-McMillan in the 2001-02 school year, said that his first seven years were a mess. Manuel Pihakis, the former C-M athletic director, told Bell when he was hired that “this is the worst boys basketball job in Pennsylvania.” In Bell’s early years, it seemed that way.
“We’d take three steps forward then four or five back,” he said. “But that’s in my DNA. I thrive on challenge.”
Biggest challenge
The season Blanock was diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma and thereafter proved the biggest challenges for Bell. After enduring 32 months battling the disease, Blanock died at age 19 in August 2016. Blanock excelled at baseball as well as basketball.
“Luke was taking the world by storm,” Bell said of when he fell ill. “Obviously, it was a blow to his family,” he added of Blanock’s parents, Kurt and Janice, “as well as our team and program.”
Blanock’s life and battle changed Bell, for the better. On his left wrist, he wears a blue ‘Luke Strong’ bracelet. He vows to be buried with it. He never takes it off.
“I don’t want to lose perspective. When I have a bad day, I look at the bracelet and stop feeling sorry for myself. When you go through something like Luke did, it puts things in the proper perspective for you. If Luke can do what he did, then I can get through whatever is bothering me.”
Today, on the basketball court, Bell has few worries. His team is ranked No. 1 in Class 6A. He is enthused that his milestone win came against his alma mater.
“It was neat,” he said. “Means a lot to get it against a school I went to and that made it extra special.”
At 53, Bell doesn’t want to start over. He says he doesn’t have the energy to revive another program. He’s proud of his record and the players that he is producing.
“I may be the captain of this ship but I have had a lot of great coaches, parents and players,” Bell said. “The thing that makes me most proud is that we have been able to do something special at two different schools.”
But, he’s especially excited about this year’s team.
“It’s such a good story but it’s such a special group. They are so close. Tight-knit. No one cares who scores or gets the recognition. They just want to win,” he said.
“In this day and age, that’s pretty cool. But not surprising,” Bell added. “Because while they are pretty good players, they are even better people.”