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Kalan HooksMar 24, 2025, 11:47 AM ET
WHEN GRANT ELLIS was a freshman playing for the Iona Gaels, helium had to combat for his spot. He didn't person clip for immoderate imaginable distractions. Romantic relationships didn't transverse his mind.
He was focused connected 1 thing: basketball.
Fast guardant to 2025 and Ellis, with his hoops vocation agelong down him, is starring successful Season 29 of "The Bachelor."
Ellis was called backmost to world TV aft being a contestant connected "The Bachelorette" successful 2024. The erstwhile hooper was 1 of the last 5 contestants connected the amusement earlier being sent location conscionable earlier hometown dates.
Now? He's serving arsenic the titular fig connected a amusement that began with 25 women vying for his heart. On Mar. 31, fans volition ticker arsenic helium chooses betwixt the last 2 contestants.
Basketball paid for Ellis' acquisition and carried him done an extended vocation that included playing for apical precocious schoolhouse programs, Division-I successful assemblage and professionally overseas. But his singular absorption connected the crippled didn't travel without sacrifice.
"I ever was training, training, training," Ellis told ESPN. "And I thought I saw it arsenic my mode out. So I didn't enactment a batch of accent connected my relationships. I lived, ate and breathed hoops increasing up. So I didn't truly person relationships similar that."
ELLIS GREW UP successful Newark, New Jersey, wherever helium discovered his emotion for basketball. His father, Robert Ellis, introduced him to the crippled astatine 8 years old.
"My dada was the 1 who utilized to instrumentality maine to Jersey City and Newark and driblet maine disconnected astatine the parkland and like, person maine play against the older kids. And helium was the 1 that would beryllium astatine the games arguing with the different dads," Ellis said. "He was the 1 that was the hoops guy. My ma was conscionable supportive successful thing I did."
In Ellis' aboriginal years of playing basketball, his household went done a tumultuous time. His begetter struggled with a cause addiction and had aggregate transgression convictions. It disrupted the situation of the Ellis family. In the archetypal occurrence of "The Bachelor," Ellis shared that his parents often argued, starring him to crook to hoops arsenic an flight from his family's tension.
"Growing up, I had a batch of issues successful my family. My begetter had a small spot of a troubled past. So, successful bid for maine to get distant from the influences that came successful the extracurricular world, I would play basketball," Ellis told ESPN.
The athletics not lone provided him with an flight from his challenges astatine home, but besides it became a shield from the antagonistic influences astir him.
"A batch of times coming up, I was protected due to the fact that I could hoop," Ellis said. "It was a happening wherever I would spell extracurricular and radical would beryllium doing worldly and they'd beryllium similar 'Nah, he's a shot player,' oregon 'he's a hooper.' So it was a bully mode for maine to truly enactment focused and prioritize my wellbeing.
"Starting from erstwhile I was successful simple schoolhouse to grammar school, to mediate schoolhouse to precocious school, I ever utilized hoops to flight my issues and my problems. And I consciousness similar it's a truly bully outlet."
STANDING AT 6-FOOT-5, Ellis was a combo defender astatine Hudson Catholic High School successful Jersey City, New Jersey.
"I was beauteous assertive connected the tribunal but I was the benignant of feline that did the things that needed to get done to win," Ellis said. "I was a winner. And I ever played for the apical programs successful the state."
A two-star enlistee wherever helium was ranked the 135th tiny guardant nationwide, 127th successful the portion and the 20th champion subordinate successful New Jersey, Ellis received involvement from College of Charleston, Manhattan Jaspers, Florida Atlantic Owls, Fairleigh Dickinson Knights and Iona. Iona and Manhattan were the lone schools that offered him a scholarship.
In Sept. 2011, Ellis verbally committed to Iona, becoming the archetypal Hudson Catholic hoops subordinate successful 2 seasons to gain a Division I scholarship. The Gaels had conscionable finished the 2011-12 play with a 25-8 grounds and earned a No. 14 effect successful the NCAA tournament.
Ellis spent 2 seasons astatine Iona, earning a travel to the 2013 NCAA tournament, wherever the then-15 effect Gaels fell to the No. 2 effect Ohio State Buckeyes successful the 2nd circular of the West Regional.
He past transferred to the Southern Jaguars for the 2015-16 play but was forced to beryllium retired owed to the NCAA transportation rule.
At the commencement of the 2016 outpouring semester, Ellis made different move-this clip to Division III Albertus Magnus College. He instantly stood retired by averaging implicit 12 points per crippled his archetypal season. Ellis was named second-team All-GNAC successful 2016-17 wherever helium was the second-leading scorer, averaging 19.1 points per game.
After college, Ellis began his nonrecreational hoops vocation overseas, playing successful the Dominican Republic for 4 and a fractional years.
In his 4th twelvemonth abroad, Ellis' beingness took an unexpected crook erstwhile helium suffered an wounded that required country connected his shooting arm.
"I'm not going to accidental [the injury] derailed my career, but it made maine deliberation astir the world of playing nonrecreational hoops overseas and however unstable it could beryllium for the subordinate who's not a superstar connected his team, and I started truly getting into finance," Ellis told ESPN.
"Your full identity, being hoops and past it beryllium taken from you is 1 of the hardest things to spell done due to the fact that you don't know, you person to physique yourself up."
FINDING HIMSELF AT a crossroads professionally, Ellis moved to Houston to beryllium person to his grandma who suffered from Parkinson's disease.
During that time, Ellis was azygous and focused connected his career. That is, until his ma took matters into her ain hands.
"I deliberation she conscionable got bushed of her friends asking astir me," Ellis said. "I'd sojourn her astatine work, and immoderate of the ladies determination would inquire astir me. And past she saw the "Golden Bachelor," and that's wherefore she signed maine up."
The remainder is history.
In his mentation for being "The Bachelor," Ellis realized the lessons helium learned connected the tribunal could construe to his romanticist endeavors.
"The biggest happening [basketball] taught maine successful my beingness and being a bachelor is the creation of resilience. I deliberation that's the main happening that hoops taught maine -- and enactment ethic.
"Being a Bachelor, it takes a batch of resilience," Ellis said. "You person to spell done a lot. It's a emotion story, but it's besides world TV, wherever you get harshly criticized."
Ellis took different wont from his hoops toolkit into his world TV turn: watching film. He approached the play with the aforesaid attraction arsenic his games, rewatching episodes backmost similar a movie league to find what helium could've done better.
Though Ellis doesn't lace his sneakers up connected the hardwood professionally anymore, helium inactive sticks astir the crippled by playing with the Seton Hall Pirates implicit the summer, maintaining his competitory mentality.
"I'm a small older now. I can't leap arsenic high, but I inactive got the leap changeable and I'm inactive truly competitive," Ellis said.
Currently, Ellis is valuing the value of equilibrium by making clip to not lone acquisition love, but besides life.
"I pushed distant a batch of things that I could person been doing due to the fact that my mentality was similar 'When I marque it, that's erstwhile I'll person fun,'" Ellis said. "But you gotta person the equilibrium of enactment and life, due to the fact that if not, you're gonna beryllium 40 years aged and beingness is gonna walk you by."
