This year marks Kay Seamayer’s 8th qualification for the National Senior Games. She’ll be competing in the 80+ age group for basketball, and is chasing gold, having lost out last time by 1 point and taking the silver medal instead.

“Really, my main goal for 2022 is to get out there, for the pure fun of continuing to play the game,”

Also known as The Granny Globetrotter, and famous for her 3-pointer skill, Kay has spent most of her life around the basketball court, hanging out with her father from about five years old while he coached. She played in junior high and high school and was offered a college basketball scholarship.

“Sport keeps my brain going and my body tuned up”

“But back then, the only place to go after that was coaching. I wanted to play, not coach,” she says. “I also had a scholarship for music, so I chose to do that instead.”

She is still a professional musician and entertainer today, writing songs, singing and playing keyboard at regular gigs at country clubs, special events and senior centers and around the country. She will also sing the National Anthem at the Parade of Athletes at this year’s National Senior Games in Ft Lauderdale, Florida.

After college, she found a way to keep playing basketball, joining the AAU circuit and playing with the Texas Bluebonnets.

Marriage and business interests together with her husband dominated her life for several years after that, though she never stopped playing sport. She found fun and friendship around the country, playing tennis competitively up to state level, and later switching to the growing sport of pickleball, which she still plays every week with friends. 

Then when she was 64 she read an article about older women’s basketball in the National Senior Games and immediately contacted the organizers. She threw herself into organizing and coaching teams through her own Basketball and Fitness for Senior Women” organization and hasn't looked back. As a long-time member of her Texas state senior women’s basketball team, The Lady Ball Hawgs, she’s won gold medals in previous State and National Senior Games, as well as free throw competitions around the United States.

in 2015 she was inducted into the Texas Senior Games Hall of Fame, has appeared in numerous news articles and TV shows and had an award-winning documentary made of her. She has also appeared on TV with the Harlem Globetrotters to promote their senior women’s program, as well as playing half-time shows at college, professional women’s basketball, Mavericks and other sporting events.

“I see sport as a metaphor for life and for business,”

“I see sport as a metaphor for life and for business,” she says. “Competing has taught me to set goals and to follow through with discipline, determination, education and hard work to be the best I can be.  These same applied principles have allowed me to succeed in various life choices all throughout my life.”

She is a vocal advocate for sport and staying active, and is writing a book called “Get Up, Get Out & Get Your Move On” in which she hopes to show people the value of exercise and help them take the first and next steps to improving their health through movement. 

There is also a catchy song she wrote herself that spells out the book’s message.

“Sport has afforded me an incredibly healthy and enjoyable active lifestyle.  It keeps my brain going and my body tuned up.”

Staying active, healthy and strong enables me to do the things in life that give me joy, happiness and fulfillment!” 

Kay and her team mates, the Tennessee 80 Plus, competed in Ft Lauderdale, Florida, May 10-23, 2022. Find out about the latest National Senior Games here.