Earnest Bell, a native of Louisville, Kentucky, played only two years with the Brandon University Bobcats but those two years were very memorable for basketball in Canada, as he established himself as one of the most complete players in the country. In both seasons, 2000 and 2001, he was selected as a CIS/CIAU All-Canadian, GPAC Player of the Year, GPAC scoring and rebounding leader and a National Tournament All-Star – an amazing accomplishment which sets him aside from many of the other outstanding players who have played at BU.

In the 2000-2001 season, he led the Great Plains Athletic Conference in four statistical categories, scoring, field goal percentage, free throw percentage and rebounding, and recorded 13 double-doubles (scoring and rebounding). He was the only player in Canada to finish in the top ten of all those statistical categories. After his time with the Bobcats, he played professionally in Denmark and Syria. In 2006, he led the Al Ittihad team to the Syrian pro league championship.

Inducted into the Manitoba Basketball Hall of Fame in 2015.