Basketball Star Ben Callahan-Gold Reflects on His Time at Trinity and Looks Ahead to His Future Goals

By Cece Hampton

The Trinity College men’s basketball team had its best season in years. They won the NESCAC Championship, beating Williams in the final 59-52. This was a comeback from earlier in the regular season when they faced their first and only regular season loss to the Ephs 55-54 on a buzzer-beater shot. The team bounced around the D3Hoops.com national rankings this season, reaching #4 twice – the highest ranking in the program’s history. On March 1st they beat Swarthmore in their second game of the NCAA Division III Championship, qualifying them to move on to the Sweet Sixteen for the first time since the 2014-2015 season. For the first time in 30 years, the Bantams made it all the way to the Final Four, falling to No. 13 ranked Trine University 66-54. Trine ultimately took home the national title for the first time in its program history, defeating No. 1 ranked Hampden-Sydney College in the final game of the national championship. The Bantams ended their season with a 30-2 record, the first time the program has ever achieved 30 wins in a season. What can the team attribute such a successful season to? Senior captain #32 Ben Callahan-Gold credits the team’s shared mentality. “We’re all bought in on the same idea. From the beginning, we made it clear we had goals we wanted to achieve and standards to uphold, and everyone has bought into this.” Having the 16 members of the squad all sharing the same mentality and giving it their all proved to be the defining factor of the team’s success. With this being the first time anyone on the team has won a NESCAC championship, and the first time in eight years that the team has made it to the national championship, spirits were high the entire season. A 6’8 forward and center, Callahan-Gold is the leading three-point field goal scorer in the conference and ranks fifth in scoring overall. Named NESCAC player of the week twice this 2023-2024 season, Callahan-Gold has been a dominating force on the court. Originally hailing from Manhatten, Callahan-Gold graduated from Northfield Mount Hermon School (NMH) in 2020. Being a nationally ranked boarding school, Callahan-Gold describes the athletic culture as being “D1 or bust.” His path at NMH led him to commit as a preferred walk-on to the Tulane University basketball team, an NCAA Division I program. During his first year at Tulane, Callahan-Gold played in one game throughout the entire season. Although he could have eventually developed into a player who got a lot of minutes in the following years, Callahan-Gold wanted to make an immediate impact on the court. He decided to enter the transfer portal and began seeking to play basketball at a NESCAC school, knowing it was the highest-ranked Division III basketball conference. Landing on Trinity, the following year Callahan-Gold joined the Bantam squad and quickly became a crucial addition to the program. Callahan-Gold spent his two years at NMH and his year at Tulane with the mentality of DI basketball or nothing in his mind. However, upon arriving at Trinity, he quickly realized he had yet to learn what DIII basketball was like. He recalls being surprised at the high level of competition, and the fact that he “could not just show up and be the best player.” Callahan-Gold faced a reality check early on, realizing that there was not a huge gap in the competition between DI and DIII basketball. He describes reflecting to himself, “You’re not as good as you think you are,” which shaped his mentality transitioning from playing DI to DIII. He says that when he first came to Trinity, he was not performing at the ability he thought he was capable of. This pushed him to work even harder because he wanted to reach the level he had expected himself to be at. So what has kept Callahan-Gold motivated all this time? The biggest thing he attributes his motivation to is consistency. He says, “Sticking to habits and being consistent and persistent is the most important thing, even on the days you don’t really want to go to the gym.” This season especially, Callahan-Gold and his team maintained momentum with the shared goal of making it as far as possible in the National Championship. One of the biggest goals Callahan-Gold personally had was seeing a banner hung in the gym, recognizing it as an important sign of success. He says, “Spending months and months of working with my teammates and everyone having the same goal and sacrificing themselves for it keeps me motivated and sacrificing for the success of the team.” Callahan-Gold says his favorite part of his Trinity experience has “100% been my teammates,” explaining “I have never been on a team before where from top to bottom everyone genuinely loves and has a great relationship with everyone, so it’s very special to have a group of guys that genuinely loves each other.” Looking ahead, Callahan-Gold is still weighing his options for his next steps after graduation. He is considering taking a fifth year playing basketball in college or potentially going pro overseas. His most immediate option for playing pro would be for an Israeli team. The summer going into his junior year of college, he competed in the Maccabiah Games, an international multisport event that occurs every four years. Although Callahan-Gold was injured early on and did not get to play in the games, he says that attending the games showed him that he is capable of competing with the pros, even having had two years of college left ahead of him. He describes realizing the path to playing pro basketball was “obtainable and realistic,” despite always having had the ideas of the pros being “godly.” Callahan-Gold recognizes this as a turning point in his athletic mentality. Overall, Callahan-Gold’s main goal for the next couple of years is to get as good at basketball as he can. He says, “I’m lucky in the sense that I pursued basketball from a young age. Basketball can take you around the world like not many other things can.” His dream is to continue playing basketball and make some kind of career out of it. At Trinity, Callahan-Gold is majoring in psychology, and beyond his current prioritization of basketball he can someday see himself working in some form of therapy. The biggest piece of advice Callahan-Gold offers to other athletes is that “You have to be persistent and want it more than anyone in any field you are in. If you are not crazy about it, then there is someone else that is. If you want to be successful, you really have to put the work in. Otherwise, nothing is going to happen, and you are going to have regrets.” Looking back at these past three years, especially the 2023-2024 season, it is safe to say that Callahan-Gold has no regrets.