It was just before halftime in the semifinals of the 1985 NCAA West Regional, a Sweet Sixteen contest between NC State and Alabama. Crimson Tide senior guard Mark Gottfried found himself all alone, three steps above the top of the key, the last line of defense in a one-on-one break, with a lightning bug coming his way.
And then it was gone.
“I realized for that second I was on an island by myself, and I knew I was in trouble,” Gottfried recalled.
Gottfried certainly was not the first or the last basketball player to see that tiny blur zip past him.
“Yeah, he brings that up every time I talk to him,” said Anthony “Spud” Webb. “I think he likes that story.”
It was practically a point of pride for anyone who played against basketball’s most famous novelty college basketball player of the 1980s to have been burned or dunked over by the smallest guy on the court.
Here’s the thing, though: on one night in March 1986, Webb went from novelty to legit to legend in front of Michael Jordan, Dominique Wilkins and the entire basketball-caring community when he won the third-annual NBA Dunk Contest.
Webb, who stepped in when Jordan pulled out of the contest, was performing in front of a hometown audience at Dallas’ Reunion Arena, competing against Wilkins, who was not only the defending champion, but also Webb’s Atlanta Hawks teammate and best friend.
And Webb crushed it.
It was the ultimate Cinderella story, with the main character wearing size 8 Pony “City Wings” sneakers instead of a glass slipper.
Based on that one night, Webb became a cultural icon, the ultimate little guy among giants. He was invited to the “Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson, “Late Night with David Letterman,” and all the significant sports shows of the time. He showed up with Mickey Mantle in a Paul Simon music video. Despite his shy and reclusive nature, he was more sought after for endorsements than any political candidate.
Next week, Webb will represent NC State in Washington, D.C., during the ACC Tournament as one of the ACC Legends. It’s a popular affair that honors one past player from every school in the league, even if the school wasn’t actually an ACC member during that player’s career. Webb will be introduced during the tournament and attend the ACC Legends luncheon on Friday.
“It’s such an honor for me because not a lot of people where I am now remember that I played at NC State,” said Webb, who for the last eight years has served as the president for basketball operations for the Texas Legends, the NBA D-League team for the Dallas Mavericks. “People usually just associate me with Atlanta because of how long I played there.”
Webb is legendary, not for his performance as a Wolfpack player, but because of what he meant as an ambassador for the game. His NBA career — thought to be a folly of a dream at one point in his life — spanned a dozen years, well past his famous victory in the dunk contest.
The diminutive 5-foot-7 guard — shorter than Lou Pucillo, taller than Monte Towe — had no particular allegiance to the Wolfpack. He just filled a huge hole in the roster left by then-ACC career assist leader Sidney Lowe following the NC State’s 1983 NCAA championship.
Like most of Valvano’s stories, Webb’s recruitment is part of Wolfpack canon. Valvano had whiffed on getting Kenny Smith, Dwayne “Pearl” Washington and Keith Gatlin as Lowe’s replacement.
He thought he had New York playground legend Kenny Hutchinson lined up to take over the point. Hutchinson was exactly what Valvano wanted, a 6-foot-5 scoring point guard who had won city and state championships in high school, much like super-scorer Ernie Myers.
Hutchinson, however, chose not to sign early and had higher aspirations when the spring rolled around. When he spurned the Wolfpack for Arkansas, Valvano had no other prospects at the point, either on the team or on the recruiting trail.
Valvano sent assistants Tom Abatemarco, Ed McLean and Ray Martin out to find someone — anyone — who could pass the ball to Lorenzo Charles, Cozell McQueen and Terry Gannon, the three sophomores who were so important during the title run, and Myers, the team’s scorer of the future.
Abatemarco, Valvano’s top recruiter, came up with Webb, who defied the proposition that everything in Texas is big. The Dallas native, as a freshman, had taken Midland Junior College to the 1982 JUCO national championship and overcame some family strife during his sophomore year.
Valvano had never laid eyes on Webb before his recruiting trip to Raleigh. Famously, when the head coach first saw the diminutive and youthful-looking visitor, he turned to Abatemarco and said: “If that’s Spud Webb, you’re fired.”
Webb turned out to be the perfect transition player for Valvano and the Wolfpack. He had some spectacular games, like his debut performance against Houston in the 1983 Tip-Off Classic in Springfield. Mass., when he helped the Wolfpack beat Houston for the second time in a row. He tied the single-game school record with 18 assists against Northeastern later that year, which is still second in school history to Chris Corchiani’s 20, and led the ACC in assists as a junior.
For his senior year, Webb was an exciting role player, coming off the bench most of the season after the arrival of 6-5 Raleigh native Nate McMillan, whose game was more suited to the halfcourt style Valvano used with big men Charles, McQueen, Russell Pierre and Bennie Bolton. The Wolfpack was part of a three-way tie that year for the regular-season ACC title and advanced — thanks in no small part to Webb’s career-high 29 points against Texas-El Paso in the second round — to the West Regional in Denver. He helped end Gottfried’s playing career with a win over Alabama in the semifinals before the Pack lost to No. 2 St. John’s in the regional finals.
In a span of just 66 games, Webb compiled 373 assists and averaged 10.4 points a contest.
“It was a great two years for me, because I always wanted to play against the best competition, and the ACC at that time was the best there was,” Webb said. “It was everything I could have hoped for, to be a part of the rivalries there.
“My biggest highlight is still the win we had over North Carolina in Reynolds Coliseum my senior year.”
His real mark, however, came as one of the unlikeliest players in professional basketball history. Drafted by the Detroit Pistons, Webb was cut before training camp started. He signed to run practice drills with the Atlanta Hawks and stepped into the lineup with Wilkins following a preseason injury to guard Doc Rivers.
Valvano, who couldn’t believe he ever recruited a player of such a short stature, loved watching Webb play during the 12 years he spent in the NBA.
“I just enjoy him now, and I’m happy he came our way for two years,” Valvano said after Webb’s dunk-contest victory. “I thought certainly we all had suspects of whether he would make it in the NBA, not because of talent, but because of his size.
“Now I think he’s not just a drawing card. Spud is an excellent basketball player at any level. There are so many great players who go to the NBA and don’t make it — kids without the obstacles he has. Here’s a kid who, in spite of everything, has made it and is now a player.”
Myers, who hosted Webb on his recruiting visit, still remains close to the only Wolfpack basketball player whose nickname comes from a Space Race Russian satellite.
“You don’t play 12 years in the NBA without game,” Myers said. “Spud was a player.”
Tim Peeler is a regular contributor to The Wolfpacker and can be reached at tmpeeler@ncsu.edu.
