The 17th best athlete in Michigan History is...

Submitted by ItsHarambe on

Chris Webber

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.

During his time at Michigan he earned firs team All-American honors in 1993, USBWA National Freshman of the Yeah in 1992. In highschool he was a McDonals All-American MVP, NAismith Prep Player of the Year, and Mr. Basketball Michigan.

In the 1993 NBA draft, Webber was selected #1 overall by the Orlando Magic but was traded to the Golden State Warriors. In the NBA, he was NBA Rookie of the Year in 1994, NBA rebounding leader in 1999, All-NBA third team in 2000, All NBA second team in 1999, 2002, and 2003, All-NBA first team in NBA All-Star in 1997, 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2003. 

There is a good 30 for 30 on the Fab Five that you should watch if you haven't already.

Here  is a Chris Webber highlight video.

Previous Posts: 

#18 - Ron Kramer

#19- Sierra Romero

#20-Trey Burke

#21-Michael Phelps

#22 - Lamar Woodley

#24 - Benny Freidman

#25 - Anthony Thomas

 

Disclaimer: This is not my poll. This is a collection of polls taken by MGoUsers. Credit goes to Wikipedia for the info. If you're upset by these rankings, don't be. Everything is going to be okay. But feel free to let me know why I'm an idiot in the comment section. 

 

Go Blue

mjv

August 17th, 2016 at 1:21 AM ^

If Gary is half as dominant as Webber, he will be an all-time great.

Webber was far and away the most dominant athlete I have seen at Michigan -- ahead of Woodson, Wheatley, Desmond, Henson, all of them.  And it wasn't close.

And there isn't a single Michigan athlete I'm more conflicted about.  Watching him play every game -- he always performed.  The team ebbed and flowed with how Jalen performed, but Webber was a constant force.  But he and Fisher put Michigan basketball into hell for over a decade.  I have zero conflict in my hatred of Fisher.  But the emotion Webber elicits is just so binary.

There isn't a place on this list he couldn't wind up -- #1 or not even on it.

WestSider

August 17th, 2016 at 11:20 AM ^

played for UM. I even forgave him for the T/O. But I'm profoundly disappointed in him after that, with the revelations of violations, and his acute unwillingness to be real about the history, and his avoidance of reconciliation attempts with UM and its students, alumni and fanbase. tragic

Wolverine Devotee

August 16th, 2016 at 10:07 PM ^

Similar to how cheating teams are ineligible for the coaches poll in football, those who break NCAA rules, lie about it and then turn their back on their school and team should be ineligible for this poll.



Unpopular opinion, yes. But at least the other two living athletes who got in trouble have tried to get back into good graces with the program. 

Mr. Webber only gave a damn when the basketball team was in the national championship game. Hasn't been back since. Shocking. 








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Wolverine Devotee

August 16th, 2016 at 11:56 PM ^

Unless Mr. Webber is moonlighting as an apparel company designer, I'm not sure what you mean. The colors have always been Maize and Blue and the Block M is the Block M.

Baggy shorts? Okay, but he wasn't the only one wearing them on that team. 

The apparel sales skyrocketing after 1991-92 bit on the ESPN film is pretty comical if you ask me. Basketball played a pretty decent part, but they kind of forgot to mention the Football program won their 4th straight B1G Championship and had a Heisman trophy winner. 

And then won it again the next year and won the Rose Bowl.

mjv

August 17th, 2016 at 1:13 AM ^

I grew up a huge Michigan football fan, family went to 3-4 games a year.  I was an undergrad in Ann Arbor from fall 1990 to spring 1994.  Football was winding up a nearly unprecedented run of success. I had enough background as a fan of Michigan athletics to know Michigan was first and foremost a football school.

And the opinion of the majority of students was that Michigan was a basketball school.  I'm not saying they were right, but the Fab Five was transcendent.  The team going to Rose Bowls, QB U starting with Grbac and Collins, and Tyrone Wheatley doing his best Bo Jackson impressions every Saturday didn't compare to attention that the Fab five were drawing.  

While the record books may support your argument, the reality doesn't match.

M go Bru

August 17th, 2016 at 10:23 AM ^

He also whined about not making money on the royalities of apparel sale all the while receiving $ 280,000 loan from Ed Martin (laundered money from his numbers loto in the auto plants) claiming to have repaid only $38,200 while making $178M in his NBA career.

What a scumbag hypocrite!

CaliUMfan

August 16th, 2016 at 10:11 PM ^

He obviously deserves to be higher based on his talent and play at Michigan but the ranking is held down by those who hate him for his transgressions. This thread will inevitably spiral into another thread filled with nothing but bickering about said transgressions.

Cranky Dave

August 16th, 2016 at 10:15 PM ^

The definition of greatest. I would tend to look at the whole picture not just play on the field or court. Having said that I don't feel the same way about pros, I admit it doesn't make sense.

xtramelanin

August 16th, 2016 at 10:20 PM ^

and yet, no 'xtramelanin' to be found.   maybe if they added a few digits, like, 10017 th greatest athlete in michigan history?  probably take more digits than that.  oh well.  i will keep a vigil for tomorrow.   

mGrowOld

August 16th, 2016 at 10:49 PM ^

I think he's a bit underrated to be honest but not by much.   17 seems about right to me with the surplus of football, basketball and hockey players yet to come. 

With 16 slots left it will be interesting to see who of the players below gets left off the top 25

Basketball (12 all-time greats remaining)

Bill Buntin, Gary Grant, Phil Hubbard, Mike McGee, Glen Rice, Jalen Rose, Cazzie Russell, Roy Tarpley, John Tidwell, Rudy Tomjanovich, Henry Wilmore, Juwan Howard

Football (23  remaining)

Willie Heston, Germany Schultz, Harry Kipke, Bennie Oosterbaan, Harry Newmon, Tom Harmon, Bob Chappius, Julius Franks, Bill Yearby, Jim Mandich, Dan Dierdorf, Rob Lytle, Ricky Leach, Anthony Carter, Jim Harbaugh, Mark Messner, Steve Everitt, Desmond Howard, Steve Huchinson, Charles Woodson, Mike Hart, Braylon Edwards & of  course, Denard Robinson

Hockey (4 remaining)

Red Berenson, Marty Turco, Brendan Morrison, Jack Johnson

Baseball (3 remaining)

Bill Freehan, Barry Larkin, Jim Abbott,

So by my count there are at least 42 players worthy of inclusion on this list with 16 slots remaining (and I didnt count track, tennis or any of the womens sports).

Should be interesting.

 

Wolverine Devotee

August 17th, 2016 at 12:04 AM ^

There's no way you can do an actual overall list. You have to go by sport. There's just too many greats.

You didn't even mention Sam Mikulak, Kevin Porter, Kylee Botterman, Kevin Sullivan, Mike Leach (not that Mike Leach), Wally Grant, Jennie Ritter, Jordan Taylor, Sam Findlay, Chris Sabo.

MGoBender

August 17th, 2016 at 12:21 PM ^

I'm guessing Lexi Zimmerman won't be on this list, which is a sham.  Best M volleyballer ever, probably.

A couple of yours are maybes, though.  Sam Findlay probably wouldn't make an All-time all-sports M list... She's probably outside the top-5 in softball, but she does have the greatest single moment in all of softball if not all of MIchigan athletic history, so.... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

rob f

August 17th, 2016 at 12:50 AM ^

in just football alone who merit consideration.  What about Ron Johnson, Tyrone Wheatley, Butch Woolfolk, Tom Brady, Jake Long,  Tshimanga Biakabutuka,  David Baas, Tom Curtis, Thom Darden, Gerald Ford, Brandon Graham, or Ty Law, among others.

Among Hockey players, what about Dylan Larkin?

Charlie Gehringer played baseball at Michigan.  So did George Sisler (who, as a freshman,  once struck out 20 batters in a 7-inning game while pitching  for Michigan).  Shouldn't they merit consideration?  How about Ted Simmons and Chris Sabo?

LSAClassOf2000

August 16th, 2016 at 10:41 PM ^

As it was an all-time list, I honestly think that #17 is a bit low for Chris Webber. Those who still seem to hold a massive grudge against the Fab Five may disagree, and I admit that I never understood that viewpoint, but Webber's contributions to that era of Michigan basketball are hard to overlook. 

As a minor note, I realize this thread will bring out some feelings in a vew just due to the name - try to keep it civil, please.

mjv

August 17th, 2016 at 1:41 AM ^

Webber gets all of the hate for what happened to the basketball program.  He took the lionsshare of the cash from Martin.  Jalen admitted to taking a few $1000 over the time he knew Ed Martin (and if your read Jalen's autobiography, he is a huge defender of Ed Martin and the number of non-famous kids he helped out).  As I recall, Webber took either $400k or $600k from Martin.  Jalen claims in his book that Martin gave him almost all of that money when it was apparent he was going pro after his sophomore season to launder the money for Martin.

Yet Webber was constantly bitching to the papers, most notably Mitch Albom, that he was broke and upset how the school made all of this money off of his jersey and on-court success. His hypocracy even made it worse.

Webber deserves the hate he elicits.  He earned it.  But he was amazing.