Mayce Edward Christopher Webber III (born March 1, 1973), nicknamed "C-Webb", is an American former professional basketball player. Webber played 15 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA), with the largest portion of his career spent with the Sacramento Kings. Drafted number one overall in the 1993 NBA draft, Webber became a five-time NBA All-Star, a five-time All-NBA Team member, and the NBA Rookie of the Year. He also played for the Golden State Warriors, Washington Bullets, Philadelphia 76ers, and Detroit Pistons during his NBA career.
Webber was a National High School Basketball Player of the Year who led his high school to three Michigan State High School Basketball Championships. As a collegiate athlete, he was a first-team All-American and led the Michigan Wolverines' 1991 incoming freshman class known as the Fab Five that reached the 1992 and 1993 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship games as freshmen and sophomores. However, Webber was indicted by a federal grand jury and stripped of his All-American honors by the NCAA as a result of his direct involvement in a scandal involving payments from boosters to players.
Webber is an on-air commentator for NBA games and has taught at Wake Forest University and Morehouse College. He was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2021.
Webber attended Detroit Country Day School from 1987 to 1991 and at the time was the most recruited Michigan high school basketball player since Magic Johnson. Webber led Country Day to three MHSAA State championships. As a senior in high school Webber averaged 29.4 points and 13 rebounds per game. He was named Mr. Basketball of Michigan and the 1990–1991 National High School player of the year. He was named MVP in both the McDonald's and Dapper Dan All-Star games.
After graduating from Detroit Country Day School, Webber attended the University of Michigan for two years. While a Michigan Wolverine, Webber led the group of players known as the Fab Five, which included himself, Juwan Howard, Jalen Rose, Jimmy King, and Ray Jackson. This group, all of whom entered Michigan as freshmen in the fall of 1991, took the basketball team to the NCAA finals twice, losing both times. The Fab Five, sporting long, baggy shorts and black socks, became immensely popular as they were seen as bringing a hip hop flavor to the game. Four of the Fab Five (Webber, Rose, Howard, and King) made it to the NBA. In their first season, the Fab Five led Michigan to an NCAA championship game against Duke, becoming the first team in NCAA history to compete in the championship with freshmen as all five starters.
On April 5, 1993, at Michigan's second consecutive appearance at the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship game with 11 seconds remaining, Webber brought the ball up the court into a half court trap. Michigan was down 73–71. Webber attempted to call for a timeout while his team had none remaining, resulting in a technical foul that effectively clinched the game for North Carolina. Webber continues to receive ridicule for his time-out error; when he joined Inside the NBA in 2008, part of the humorous initiation ceremony was the question "In college basketball how many timeouts do you get in a game?" (Webber replied, "I still don't know the answer!") His father has a license plate that says timeout. The error was later referenced in the 2018 sports comedy film Uncle Drew, in which Webber played the role of Preacher.
The game marked the end of Webber's acclaimed two-year collegiate basketball career. In his second season, he was a first team All-American selection and a finalist for the John R. Wooden Award and Naismith College Player of the Year. These awards and honors have been vacated due to NCAA sanctions related to Webber's eligibility in the University of Michigan basketball scandal. In that scandal, Webber received over $200,000 from a local booster while playing basketball for Michigan. Webber was deemed to be an ineligible player by the NCAA, convicted of perjury and banned from any affiliation with the Michigan program until 2013.
Despite the ban, Webber attended the 2013 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship game between Michigan and Louisville. He apparently watched the game from a private suite, rather than in the grandstands near courtside, where the other members of the Fab Five watched the game together. Webber posted on Twitter before the game: "I'm here at the Georgia Dome to show my support for the Michigan men's basketball team in its quest for a National Championship. I've known some of the players on the team since they were kids and I am excited for them and all of the student athletes on the court tonight who are wearing the Michigan uniform. It has been a great season and I wish them all the best."
University of Michigan basketball scandal
In 2002, Webber was charged for lying to a grand jury as part of a larger investigation of a numbers gambling operation, run by Michigan basketball program booster Ed Martin, in Ford Motor Company plants in the Detroit area. The investigation, originally focused on the numbers operation and tax evasion, soon widened to include the University of Michigan basketball program. Martin was convicted on counts of tax evasion and robbery and was scheduled to testify on the financial connections between himself and Webber at a sentencing hearing, but died of a heart attack before the hearing.
As a result of evidence admitted during the course of Martin's trial, Webber pleaded guilty to one count of criminal contempt for lying about his role in a scandal in which four players, including himself, had accepted illicit loans from Martin. Martin had been giving money to Webber since the 8th grade. He admitted in the plea that in 1994 he gave Martin about $38,000 in cash as partial repayment for expenditures Martin made on his behalf. He was ordered to pay $100,000 and perform 330 hours of community service.
Due to concerns that Webber's amateur status had been compromised, Michigan forfeited its victory in the 1992 Final Four over Cincinnati, as well as its runner-up status in the 1992 tourney. Michigan also forfeited the entire 1992–93 season, removed the 1992 and 1993 Final Four banners from the Crisler Arena rafters, and deleted Webber's records from its record book. The NCAA also ordered Michigan to disassociate itself from Webber until 2013. Webber later called Michigan's decision "hurtful" because he and his Fab Five teammates "gave everything to Michigan" while they played there.
After Webber's plea, the Michigan State High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) recommended that Detroit Country Day forfeit all games in which Webber appeared (including three state championships), since according to his own admission, Webber had been accepting money from Martin since junior high school. The school conducted its own investigation, and called a press conference to announce it had found "no credible evidence" that Webber had accepted "substantial" amounts of cash from Martin while in high school, and therefore refused to forfeit any games. The MHSAA claimed it had no legal authority to force the games to be forfeited.
Webber was suspended by the NBA for a total of eight games—five for an unnamed violation of the league substance abuse policies and three for lying to the grand jury. Webber received the suspensions once he recovered from an injury that kept him out for half of the 2003–04 season.
The scandal was explored in a documentary by ESPN Films called The Fab Five, which aired in March 2011. In it, the University of Michigan repeated its position that it would not associate with Webber until he publicly apologized for his part in the Ed Martin scandal, with the self-imposed 10-year ban on its association with the remainder of the players ending in 2013. Webber declined to participate in the documentary.
Webber made his first post-ban public appearance at the University of Michigan on November 3, 2018, when he was invited by football coach Jim Harbaugh to participate as an honorary captain for its game against Penn State; Webber was warmly received at Michigan Stadium. Of the experience, Webber said on NBA TV, "Tell you what, fellas, this was a great moment, in front of 100,000 people. I had goosebumps and chills, and definitely some watery eyes." Webber also spent time with the football program as its guest before the game. He did not meet with the Michigan basketball team or staff, but despite this, head coach John Beilein stated that "I think it was a great step in the right direction that he was here." After Juwan Howard, teammate of Webber from the Fab Five, took over as head coach in 2019, Webber indicated to TMZ that he is open to reconciling with Michigan basketball and said, "Howard is my friend.... and therefore, I put pride aside", but wants his return to the Crisler Arena to be private.