When Keshia Campbell played basketball at Blenheim High School, she built a foundation in sports beyond the court. The hard work she put in on the court and in the classroom prepared her for a three-decade career in sports administration and education.

Campbell has been a teacher, a coach, Senior Associate Commissioner at the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA), Director of Business Affairs and Lean Coordinator at the University of Texas at Dallas, Assistant Director of Championships at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), he Interim Director of Athletics at South Carolina State University.

She also served as an Assistant Director of Athletics/Senior Woman Administrator at former MEAC member Hampton University, before being promoted to Associate Director of Athletics/Senior Woman Administrator for Hampton. Campbell would return to Hampton in 2011 as the Director of Athletics.

Now she begins a new journey in Baltimore at Morgan State University as Senior Associate Athletics Director for Student Services for the 2024-25 academic year.

Campbell credits her success to her Marlboro County upbringing and her supportive community and family here. And she gave a special shout out to her Blenheim High School coaches, Herod David and Freddie Lee David.

“It was definitely the foundation for me,” Campbell said. “When I came through, we had five different high schools, and rivalries ran very deep in Marlboro County when you went from town to town. On Tuesday and Friday nights there was standing room only when there was a game at Blenheim High School. The gyms were packed and people were supporting it. The hometown people always cheered for us. And I know after I left and after others left, we always had that support.”

At Morgan State, Campbell will be providing support for student-athletes at the Historically Black University.

She will be responsible for oversight of sports medicine, strength and conditioning, student development (personal and career), and other student services areas. She said there will be a strong focus on the mental health of these young people because that’s something very important to the success of students.

“Mental health issues are real. When those students went into lockdown, many of them were high school students or middle school students and now they are starting to come through our college campuses. We have a different dynamic of issues to address. Then also trying to maintain a competitive edge and a competitive spirit on your campus.”

Campbell’s first official day at Morgan State was Monday, much to the delight of the school’s athletic director.

“Ms. Campbell is a welcomed addition to the Bear Family,” said MSU’s Athletic Director Dena Freeman-Patton, in a release from the school. “She brings a wealth of knowledge within intercollegiate athletics that will enhance the experiences of our student-athletes.”

Campbell said she hopes young people in Marlboro County can look at her story and see that it doesn’t matter where you’re from, you can do anything you desire.

“People will say, oh, you’re from a small town, you can’t be successful. And I am a living witness that that’s not true and I encourage our young people to believe the same,” she said. “If there is something that you want to get involved in, go do it. People think that the only avenue for a career is sports is if you are playing your sport professionally, but it’s not.”

She said when she graduated college, there was no WNBA, but that didn’t stop her from turning her passion for sports into a lifetime career. “I have a passion for working with young people, I have passion for sports and what better way to do it than to do what I’m doing now?”

And if you ask Campbell about some of her proudest career moments, you won’t hear about a championship victory, a game-winning shot or meeting University of South Carolina’s head women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley. Campbell talks about the young athletes who she has helped and watched grow during her career. “Over the years, it’s seeing the student-athletes graduate,” she said. “Especially when you’ve seen them from the day they showed up on your campus and when you see them leave the campus in that cap and gown as they turn those tassels. That just gives me chills just thinking about it.”

Campbell said in her conversations with parents as a coach and as an administrator, she always told them that their children wouldn’t be used. That her job was to get them through four years of college and across the stage with a degree in hand.

“I want our young people and girls and boys who look like me to know you can do things beyond your wildest dreams. When I started working at the NCAA, when I got that opportunity, I never thought about being able to do that. At 27 years old I became head coach at South Carolina State, I never would have dreamed of doing that,” she said.

Campbell played basketball at South Carolina State where she made quite the mark. She was named MEAC Player of the Year while playing basketball for the Lady Bulldogs and is a member of the MEAC 50th Anniversary All-Time Team. For seven years, she was the head women’s basketball coach at SCSU and was named MEAC Coach of the Year in 2001. She is the second woman to lead SCSU’s athletic department as AD.

Many women, especially at HBCUs , have a leadership role in athletics. Campbell said, “Women have a knack for getting things done and a knack for paying closer attention to the details. With the climate of college athletics today, the devil is in the details more now than ever.”

“I am very grateful for my upbringing, I was taught the worth of good work ethics and developing relationships. That has carried me throughout my life, and throughout my career. No matter where I go, I’m never ashamed of telling people where I’m from and what high school I attended,” she said.

Campbell is a 2008 graduate of the National Association of Collegiate Women Athletics Administrators (NACWAA) HERS Institute and a 2006 graduate of the NCAA’s Inaugural Leaderships Institute for Ethnic Minority Females.

“I am elated to join AD Freeman-Patton’s great team of professionals at The National Treasure! I look forward to collaborating with my colleagues as we work to enhance the overall experiences of our student-athletes, making each day a great day to be a Bear,” she said about her new position.