Nothing Can Deter Brian Bell’s Pursuit Of A Wheelchair Basketball Three-Peat — Not Even TSA

Approaching the TSA station on a recent trip, Brian Bell knew exactly what was coming.

“Always,” Bell recalled. “They take it out, always.”

As usual, the agent examined Bell’s two Paralympic gold medals, then sent the wheelchair basketball star on his way to the Team USA Media Summit in New York.

“It’s always a hassle,” Bell said at the event.

But if winning a third gold medal at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games makes his bag even more of a target for TSA, that’s something he can live with. After all, that would mean Bell and the U.S. became the first men’s squad to three-peat in the 64-years of the Paralympic basketball tournament.

The pursuit of that history has kept the 35-year-old from Birmingham, Alabama, motivated as he prepares to play in his third Paralympics.

“It’s cool to do it once,” he said. “Of course it’s cool to do it back-to-back, but it kind of shows your longevity as a team and as an athlete if you can do it consistently over and over again.”

No team has done it as good and for as long as Team USA.

Since the sport’s debut at the first Paralympic Games in 1960, the U.S. men have won a record nine gold medals, matching the total for every other country combined. And yet the current generation might be the most successful of them all. In addition to the back-to-back Paralympic gold medals from 2016 and 2021, the Americans won gold at both the world championships and the Pan American Games in 2023. 

That means opposing teams always come at the Americans with everything they’ve got. Bell said he and his teammates will be ready for it in Paris.

“After teams win, especially repeatedly, there’s always a target on your back,” he said. “Every team is going to give us their best game. It could be the worst team you’ve known for years, but they’re going to give you their best game just to say they beat a two-time Paralympic gold medalist team.”

The Americans should go into Paris as a favorite, with a veteran squad that features Bell plus four other players — Nate Hinze, Trevon Jenifer, Steve Serio and Jake Williams — who won gold at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games and Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.

Only five of the 12 athletes will be making their Paralympic debut, but all five of those newcomers played on the winning Parapan Ams team last fall.

“We’re fortunate to have a very strong pool to pull from,” Bell said. “Some of the new guys coming up … they have the potential to make a big impact on our team. They just need the experience, and once they have the experience, they’re going to be very well-rounded players.” 

While Bell has a wealth of experience playing international wheelchair basketball, he’s had to make his own adjustments while getting ready for Paris. Before the previous two Paralympics, Bell was in peak basketball shape from playing in European professional leagues. About a year and a half ago, he stopped playing professionally to take on a full-time job as a business associate at Visa. 

With Visa being a sponsor of the Olympic and Paralympics Games, Bell said his managers have been understanding when it comes to needing time off to travel for competitions. Still, transitioning from only thinking about basketball to having to plan workouts around work projects has been “extremely hard.” 

“Being able to focus on basketball literally all day, all week, the whole year (was) amazing for my development and constantly getting better,” said Bell, who is now based in California “But I know basketball is not forever. … I knew I needed to start focusing on what’s next after basketball while still training and competing.”

Basketball may not be forever, but it has been a constant in Bell’s life. Basketball and football were his two favorite sports growing up, and he continued to play both after having his right leg amputated following a train accident when he was 10.

Bell was determined to show himself that he could play football with a prosthetic. However, it wasn’t something he could do long term. Wheelchair basketball, on the other hand, was a natural fit, especially since he lived less than 15 minutes away from the Lakeshore Foundation, a non-profit organization that’s had its own wheelchair basketball team since 1984. 

“Most players I knew growing up had to travel an hour, two hours, to go to practice or to train,” Bell said. “I was very fortunate to have it that close.”

That stroke of geographic luck propelled Bell to compete for Team USA, a privilege he never takes for granted. 

“Early on, I wanted to go into the military,” Bell said. “Once I got injured, that went out the window. So being able to represent my country while also playing a sport at a high level has been an amazing accomplishment.”