As the Houston Cougars look to make the NCAA championship, head coach Kelvin Sampson will be supported by his family—on and off the court.
His son, Kellen, is an assistant coach, and his daughter, Lauren, is the director of external operations for the team. And by their side throughout it all his his wife, Karen Sampson (née Lowry).
After the Cougars advanced to the Final Four, Gregg Popavich, the coach of the San Antonio Spurs, texted Kelvin he was the happiest person in San Antonio, “but not as happy as you, Karen, and the family and your whole program, built with grit, character and love.”
Here, get to know Kelvin Sampson’s wife, Karen:
She’s from Pembroke, North Carolina.
Karen is the daughter of Sue and Willie Von Lowry. She grew up in Pembroke, and graduated from Pembroke High School before attending UNCP (Pembroke State University), graduating with a bachelor of science in early childhood education.
She’s a member of the Lumbee tribe.
Like her husband Kelvin, she is Lumbee.
“My connections to my culture to coaching is being Lumbee,” Kelvin told NDN Sports. “We lived in a segregated society. I started understanding racial equity. The bathrooms had signs on them: white, colored and other. Robeson County, NC was tri-racial: white, black and Lumbee. Everyone had their own society. We were not the ‘other.’”
He added, “The family was our culture. The people had tremendous pride being Lumbee. It seems we had six names: Sampson, Lowery, Chavis, Oxendine, Jacobs, and Locklear. My wife Karen was a Lowery. We were all related. We were united. The mothers and grandmothers took care of everyone else. You heard of the ‘raised by the village’ words and that is who we are.”
Kelvin and Karen started dating when they were 16.
They met in high school, and Karen recalls, “I remember the first time Kelvin called me on my home phone. He’s like, ‘What’s our history assignment?’” They married in June 1979, and have two children, Lauren and Kellan, and two grandchildrne.
She taught elementary school.
According to her UNCP Board of Governors bio, she taught kindergarten at Southside-Ashpole Elementary School in Rowland, N.C., and first grade at Tanglewood Elementary School in Lumberton, N.C.
Karen is a philanthropist.
Per her bio, “She has worked with academically at risk Native American students in the public schools of Butte, Mont., and chaired the committee for the Washington State Games opening ceremonies, which featured Dan O’Brien (1996 Olympic gold-medalist in men’s decathlon) as the keynote speaker.”
Emily Burack (she/her) is the Senior News Editor for Town & Country, where she covers entertainment, celebrities, the royals, and a wide range of other topics. Before joining T&C, she was the deputy managing editor at Hey Alma, a Jewish culture site. Follow her @emburack on Twitter and Instagram.
Source link
[ads]
Discover more from Canvas Home Wholesale.com
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
