It is with deep regret and sadness that we at FIMBA GB share with the broader basketball community of the passing of Barbra Campbell on Sunday 18th January. She passed after a brief but aggressive illness that took her from us too soon. Our thoughts and sympathies are with her family and her beloved Etta at this difficult time.
Many in the FIMBA GB family have a bond of friendship with Barbra, from both on the court and professionally, that spans more than 3 decades. This is why many in our extended basketball family are so saddened by this news that such an endearing character will no longer be on our team benches.
Barbra volunteered to become the inaugural Team Manager for the FIMBA GB +55 women that was setup in 2021. Despite living in Scotland, a long way from FIMBA GB training events in Hertfordshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire, Barbra travelled whenever she could to weekend training events to support the players and coaching team. She also attended national and international competitions, all at significant personal financial cost. She was a trusted and essential cog in the organisational wheel that supported the FIMBA GB +55s women’s team to become contenders for podium places during the period of her tenure; 2021 until the present day.
Barbra was the epitome of what it means to be a passionate advocate and volunteer in our sport. She lived and breathed basketball as a player, referee and table official. Woe betide anyone who got on the wrong side of her as she was a force to be reckoned with, a true force of nature in character with her Highland red hair and fiery disposition! And yet, she was unfailingly caring and full of empathy; she could be relied upon to offer support wherever needed; “Barbra would have done anything for you” was a repeated recollection from those that knew her. Even toward the end, she worried more about the impact of her illness on the team than her personal suffering, such was her selflessness.
Barbra will be remembered as the basketball family member we chose to be beside us through good times and bad, the person we chose to consider as family and the person we choose to remember as such. Her buzzer may have sounded but her match result from her game of life was a win in her play-off final! And her efforts with FIMBA GB were akin to an assist for the buzzer-beating shot for the win!
God bless Barbra, we will miss you so keenly but our memories of you will give us solace as we remember your laughter and cherish your friendship. Fly high on your angel wings, dear friend. We will meet again in the next life. God bless from all at your FIMBA GB Family.
Tribute written by Stu Coffey, Head Coach of the +55s FIMBA GB women.
Nicky Shaw, Lead Delegate, FIMBA GB “such a wonderful, thoughtful lady who was a great support for not only the +55s women’s team but also FIMBA GB. You could hear her at games cheering on our teams. Always very sad when you lose a family member and all of us at FIMBA GB morn her loss”
Barbra and Mick Bans (retired PTI) at RAF Cranwell