Full Circle: Tramaine Isabell’s Basketball Journey Comes Home
Former state champion returns to the Tacoma Dome as a coach, mentor, and familiar face.
TACOMA – Tramaine Isabell was the only person sitting in a row of seats along the baseline on the Tacoma Dome court reserved for girls' basketball state championship games.
Wearing a Garfield jacket, Isabell’s current and former lives were crashing into one another. The memories were thick. On one court, he was an assistant coach in the middle of the Garfield boys' basketball team’s run to a third-place finish. On the other, he was watching Lakeside’s girls' program fight for a state title.
As he watched the waning minutes of the Lions' 39-34 loss to Central Valley, he couldn’t help but think back to his trip to the championship game with Lakeside.
“It’s the free throw,” he said.
With one second left in the 2013 Class 3A state championship, Isabell was fouled driving to the basket. He made the layup to tie the game but couldn’t convert the free throw. The Lions lost to Rainier Beach in overtime.
“I still get reminded about it today,” he said. “I was talking to someone a few weeks ago. They ran into me at the grocery store and said, ‘Oh, you’re back in Seattle. I haven’t seen you since you missed that free throw. I still feel bad about it.’”
He continued, “I wish I could get it back and make it. There’s nothing like playing in a state championship game. I won one, lost one. Those are some of the best memories you have in basketball.”
Isabell found redemption the following season, leading Garfield to a state championship before a college career that included stops at Missouri, Drexel, and Saint Louis.
“I was that first generation of three schools,” Isabell said. “I went to the tournament my last year and then went overseas for about six years, all over the world: Germany, Cyprus, Hungary, Kosovo, Macedonia, Croatia, all over the place.”
Now at the Tacoma Dome, Isabell had the chance to watch (and coach) his alma maters in the state tournament while reconnecting with familiar faces, from Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell’s son, Adam, whom he played with at Lakeside, to Lions senior standout Willa Chinn’s father, Patrick, who coached the girls' program when Isabell played there.
“It’s really cool,” he said. “I’m seeing a lot of familiar faces.”
With his playing career behind him, Isabell is focused on the next phase of life. He’s working in business development for Baden Sports and coaching to stay connected to the game as he navigates what’s next.
As an assistant with the Bulldogs, Isabell is a first-year coach with aspirations of working in college or the NBA.
“It’s exciting,” Isabell said. “It’s my first year taking a stab at it under Brandon Roy, learning a lot from him and the staff. Seeing myself as an adult and looking back on how I used to react to coaching, how I used to react to strategies. I’m trying to be gentle with the kids, understanding but still demanding, just trying to teach them how to approach the game.”
Seattle’s basketball community always welcomes back its former stars, so seeing Isabell on the sideline isn’t surprising. And it will be interesting to see where he ends up next.
“I’m just going to see where the chips fall,” he said.