CHURCHILL — On Friday, Caleb Bellach will board a plane and begin the next chapter of his life. Destination — Munich, Germany.
Bellach, a standout player at Manhattan Christian and Montana Tech, signed his first professional basketball contract in late June. He’ll compete for Ehingen Urspring, a member of the country’s ProB League, which is based about two hours from Munich in Ehingen.
While Bellach, 23, has been out the country before on family trips to Mexico, it’s certainly not the same as traveling to Germany. As one might expect, he’s both excited and nervous about traveling to an unfamiliar country.
“Honestly, I’m pretty nervous about it because I’m going somewhere I’ve never been. It’s going to be all new to me. I’ve gone to Mexico, that’s the only time I’ve ever been out of the country,” Bellach, a 6-7 forward, said. “So it’s all kind of a little bit, I guess you could say, overwhelming. But I’m hoping once I get there and get going and everything, it will hopefully all kind of fall into place.”
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The opportunity to extend his playing career at the professional level is not something Bellach is taking for granted. Especially considering there was a time in his youth when Bellach was told he might not walk again.
In the summer prior to entering the eighth grade, Bellach was busy playing travel ball around the country. But he was dealing with what his parents thought was tendonitis in his hip.
Bellach was diagnosed with slipped capital femoral epiphysis, a disorder of the hip that can afflict pre-teens and teens. Essentially, his femoral bone was slipping out of the head of the socket because the growth plates weren’t completely fused.
The only way to correct the issue was through surgery.
Montana Tech’s Caleb Bellach (10) points during a basketball game between Montana Tech and Concordia University on Friday, Dec. 1, 2023 in Butte.
“That was completely devastating,” Bellach said. “I still remember when I went in to the doctor to get my X-ray, and the doctor’s like, ‘You’re gonna have surgery today.’ And I went from thinking it’s a little hip pain to now you got to have surgery.”
It got worse from there as Bellach was told he may never walk again.
“Before the surgery the doctor said, ‘I’m going to do my best, but you’re going to be lucky if you can ever walk again,’” he said. “As an eighth grader I was like, what are you talking about? This is crazy. I was perfectly fine two weeks ago, what’s going on? So that was a big shock.”
Turns out, luck was on his side, and surgery was successful. Bellach spent the next year rehabbing and returned to basketball for his freshman year of high school.
He admitted to drifting away from the sport during that time, but rediscovered his love for the game once in high school and then the desire to play college basketball grew.
Although he only saw spot minutes off the bench for the varsity as a freshman, Bellach went on to graduate as Manhattan Christian’s all-time leading scorer with 1,553 points.
Playing for his father Jeff, Bellach led the Eagles to three consecutive state championship games — all against Class C powerhouse Arlee. While the Warriors won the first two title games, Bellach refused to be denied the crown the third time around.
He poured in a game and career-high 42 points and grabbed 9 rebounds as Manhattan Christian routed Arlee 83-51. Bellach’s performance put the final stamp on a perfect 26-0 senior campaign.
“I’ll remember that forever,” he said of winning the championship.
Bellach’s performance in that game, as well as during his career, didn’t go unnoticed and he earned a scholarship to play at Montana State. It was a childhood dream come true.
