Wednesday, July 8, 1998

Spud Webb tells local youngsters how to be successful

By AL PICKETT

Sports Editor

No one looked up to Spud Webb.

They didn't have to.

At 5-7, Webb isn't any taller than many of the campers he spoke to Tuesday at the Athletes Against Drugs basketball camp at Hardin-Simmons University's Mabee Complex.

But the 12-year NBA veteran was a giant in the youngsters' eyes as he encouraged them to work hard, stay in school and remain alcohol- and drug-free.

"I tell kids you don't just wake up and play basketball in the NBA," Webb said. "You have to work hard and practice, be drug-free and listen to their parents and elders.

"I mostly talk about life. I thank God for putting me in the NBA and allowing me to express myself in that way. God gave me a gift, the ability to jump. But like anything, you have to work to keep that gift."

It was his incredible jumping ability that first brought attention to Webb during his rookie year in the NBA. Although he was at least a foot shorter than most of his competitors, Webb won the Slam Dunk Contest in 1986 at the NBA All-Star Game, which was held in Reunion Arena in his hometown of Dallas.

"That put the spotlight on me," Webb said of the slam dunk contest, "but I played 12 years in the NBA. I wouldn't have lasted that long if I could just slam dunk. I played because I played team basketball."

One report claims that Webb had a 50-inch vertical jump, the highest ever recorded by a NBA player. He denies he could jump that high, but he admitted his leaping ability was often compared to David Thompson when Webb was at North Carolina State. Thompson, who also played for the Wolfpack, was considered one of the best leapers in the history of the game. Webb said Thompson had a 48-inch vertical jump and people at North Carolina State claimed he could take a coin off the top of the backboard.

Webb, who had a brief 10-day contract with the Orlando Magic last season, said his NBA career is probably finished after seven seasons with the Atlanta Hawks, four with the Sacramento Kings and part of a season with the Minnesota Timberwolves and Orlando Magic.

"With the NBA, you never know,"he said. "But if it's over, I'm not depressed. I played 12 years."

That is really remarkable when one realizes that Webb still looks like a junior high kid playing in a sport of giants.

Webb told the campers about how hard work paid off for him. He made only four 3-pointers in his first four seasons in the NBA. But after working on the 3-point shot in the off-season, he finished 23rd in the league in 3-point shooting percentage in 1990.

Webb said point guard Doc Rivers told him to become a starter at point guard in the NBA, he would have to be able to shoot free throws because he would be handling the ball at the end of a game.

Webb was only a 70 percent free-throw shooter at the time. As a starter with the Sacramento Kings in 1995, he led the league in free-throw shooting, making 226 of 242 free throws that season. His 93.4 percentage was just one percentage point off Calvin Murphy's NBA record.

Although he averaged 30 points per game at Wilmer-Hutchins High School in Dallas, Webb was offered only one college scholarship. Jerry Stone, a McMurry University graduate who is now the coach at Cameron University in Lawton, Okla., was coaching at Midland College at the time. He offered Webb a scholarship.

"That was my biggest break," Webb said. "He gave me a chance to play college basketball."

Midland College won the National Junior College Athletic Association championship with Webb at point guard.

From there, Webb went on to North Carolina State and then on to the NBA.

There is a story that when Webb got off the plane in Raleigh for his visit at North Carolina State, the late Jimmy Valvano looked at Webb and then turned to NC-State assistant Tommy Abatamarco, who was recruiting Webb, and said, "If that's him, you're fired."

"I don't know if it is true," Webb said, laughing, "but I hear it everywhere I go. It sounds like Coach V."

Webb fooled Valvano, however, and proved he could play college basketball at the Division I level, joining Vinny Del Negro as a two-year starter in the backcourt for North Carolina State.

He was then a fourth-round draft pick of Detroit in 1986, although the Pistons released him before he ever got a chance to try out. The Atlanta Hawks, however, gave him a chance, signing him as a free agent.

For the next 12 years, Webb proved that he could indeed play basketball in the NBA - even if he isn't any taller than the junior high campers he spoke to Tuesday.

Al Pickett can be reached at 676-6772 or picketta@abinews.com.