When I played basketball for the Jackrabbits in the late 1960s, we matched up twice against a good Wilmer-Hutchins team that featured Royce West as one of its stars, and I know we won one game and maybe the other! West was a “force,” and I always thought he might have been the best modern player they had— until a LITTLE GUY came along and made everyone forget about a lot of things as he “jumped out of the gym.” He was called “SPUD WEBB” and could accomplish unbelievable dunks and ball-handling plays!
He was considered to be 5’ 6” tall, though various brochures listed him as various heights. I stood beside him once; he was much shorter than I, and I was 6’ 1.5” at my tallest in “bare feet.” Webb played at North Carolina State University and then in the National Basketball Association for 12 or so years, had his “vertical jump” measured more than once at 40” to 43” during his younger college days, and in 1986 won the NBA “slam dunk” competition during the All-Star festivities.
In high school, college, and the NBA Spud Webb was a continuing fan favorite and all-time “good guy.”
Michael Anthony Jerome Webb was born in Dallas, Texas, in 1963, and supposedly could already “dunk” the basketball when he was only 5’ 3” tall. Holding onto it was one of the biggest challenges!
He averaged more than 25 points per game as a Wilmer-Hutchins senior basketball player and then led Midland Junior College to the 1982 Junior College National Championship, with 36 points in the final game (double overtime).
He then moved on to play for North Carolina State University under Jim Valvano and averaged 10.4 assists and almost 11 points per game.
His professional career looked like this:
1985, Rhode Island Gulls;
1985—1991, Atlanta Hawks;
1991—1995, Sacramento Kings (starter 1992—1995, with career high 16.0 points per game and 7.1 assists per game during his 1st season there);
1995—1996, Atlanta Hawks;
1996, Minnesota Timberwolves;
1998, Orlando Magic;
1998, Idaho Stampede.
Career Highs—34 points against Golden State Warriors, April 21, 1993—18 assists against Detroit Pistons, April 19, 1986.
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