The Love of the Game

Karen Isbell, 55, Unifour Senior Games

How is the largest basketball dynasty in North Carolina Senior Games history built? “Passion and a love of the game,” says Karen Isbell from Unifour Senior Games. 

The Unifour Red Foxes brought seven Women’s basketball teams to the 2019 State Finals Basketball Tournament, ages ranging from 50-84. Karen has been with the Unifour Red Foxes for 12 years, back when they only had one team and “would celebrate if we even scored a basket”. She started as the assistant coach of the team, which included her mother Mary Glass, in 2008, then became the head coach a few years later. She began competing as soon as she turned 50!

Karen grew up as a tomboy who was always tagging along with her “hero”, her older godbrother. He instilled in her a love of sports, including her favorite sport basketball. She was the first basketball player at her high school to reach 1000 points, a feat she achieved in only 3 years. She went on to get an Accounting degree from Appalachian State University. After 12 years as an accountant, she switched careers to teach marketing at her high school alma mater. Karen never lost her love of sports. In addition to teaching, she is an assistant coach for the girls basketball team and the girls tennis team at the high school.

Karen regularly played pickup basketball with the director of a rec. center in her area. One night she asked if Karen had plans for the evening. The “senior citizen ladies”, the local Senior Games basketball team, needed a team to play to qualify for a tournament. Karen went and played on the opposing team, and brought her mom along with her to watch. They both were instantly hooked. Her favorite Senior Games memory is competing at her first State Finals, and winning the gold medal in overtime. “The Lord blessed me to score the final 6 or 8 points of the games,” she says. She also went with the Red Foxes team to the 2019 National Senior Games in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Out of all her Senior Games experiences, though, she is most proud of her mom, who didn’t start playing basketball till she was 69. “She is continuing to grow herself, be more outgoing, more active.”

How do the Red Foxes’ numbers keep growing? “If they come one time they are hooked.” Karen and the Red Foxes are passionate about the Senior Games and inviting people to practice with them. “At practice I try to teach them at little moments here and there, but mostly I’m just going to encourage them and root for them, and try to get conditioning in,” she says. “But it’s all about celebrating the fact that we are still out there.”