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elbie Washington is living her childhood dream. The Norman High School legend is a key cog for an OU Women’s Basketball program that is putting up historic numbers. With an incredible list of accomplishments, the Norman native is setting a solid foundation to the start of her Sooner career. Long before Kelbie was making plays on the court for the Norman Tigers and Oklahoma Sooners, her father was making an impact in the Oklahoma City area as both an athlete and a coach. Robert Washington has been the Moore High School head wrestling coach since 1994. He was also once a four-sport athlete for the Lions where he played baseball, football, wrestling and ran track. In fact, the Washington family is steeped in Oklahoma sports history. “Crystal Robinson, one of the best women’s players in Oklahoma high school basketball history, is my cousin,” Robert Washington said of the family genetics. “Kansas City Royal U L Washington is my uncle… the athletes in our family it runs pretty deep. C.J. Washington played basketball at OU and his sister LaRonda ran track there. It’s a pretty impressive family tree.” In case it is not obvious, Kelbie comes from an incredibly athletic family. Her grandfather even played basketball for Oklahoma City’s Harlem Thrillers. “At first I was a basketball player, too,” Robert said. “I could jump, I could shoot, but I hated having the ball taken away from me. I fouled a lot and fouled out really early. So, I began wrestling at Highland East Junior High and I’ve been picking up people ever since!” With her dad a coaching legend in the sport of wrestling and the growth of girls’ wrestling in high schools across the country, could wrestling have been a possibility for Kelbie? “I had a friend that I was wrestling with, just playing around, and he immediately made me get up and stop,” Kelbie said of her wrestling experience. “(My dad) said you just can’t... you’re not wrestling. I always went to the matches, but for me, I couldn’t do it... couldn’t do it all.” “They were playing around being goofy… they weren’t taking it seriously,” Robert recalled of the incident. “I think Kelbie would have been a good wrestler. At one time they asked if she would do it and I just didn’t think she had the time.” So, with wrestling out of the mix, Kelbie became dedicated to basketball. It was more than just her DNA that helped her embrace the sport.
Photos by: Mark Doescher
“Since I was a little girl, sports were all I knew,” she said. “I was traveling everywhere at 7 years old, traveling to Florida and West Virginia to play hoops. I kind of knew and they knew this was what I wanted to do. “Of course, I played other sports... track, soccer, volleyball... that was for me to do other things and have other opportunities, but basketball was all over my heart. My Dad has been around sports. He played sports at the collegiate level, he knew what it took, and he pushed me every day.” In high school, Kelbie became an instant difference-maker for the Tigers. She got immediate playing time as a freshman and become a key contributor as the starting point guard for the Tigers’ state championship teams during her sophomore and senior seasons.
42 | March 2022
