For people in the Triangle, it may come as a big surprise that people in the NBA didn’t know that Spud Webb could jump.
People in the Triangle knew. We heard the stories first, that this 5-7 kid from Midland Junior College could really get up off the ground, but no one understood that his vertical might be as high as 47”. That, combined with his insane quickness, made him a real threat.
But he was still 5-7, and there have only been a handful of NBA players that small who had significant careers. Think
Earl Boykins and Muggsy Bogues, or Wat Misaka, the first non-Caucasian to play in the NBA (Misaka, who grew up in Utah, didn’t actually have a great NBA career, but he did have an extraordinary journey. He was a talented guard who played college basketball when many Japanese-Americans were forced into internment camps, and went on to help Utah win the 1944 NCAA tournament. He was heavily booed through most of his college career. It’s a fascinating story).
Once he got to the NBA, Webb legendarily won the NBA Dunk Contest as a rookie.
In this video, you’ll get an idea of just how unusual he was, and how much of an impact he made. He was a huge amount of fun to watch.
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