'I enjoyed the conversation with Chris when we met several years ago,' Manuel said in a statement through the school. On Friday, Manuel said Webber's account is not true. Webber, who will be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Saturday, recently told ESPN that Manuel had apologized to him for the way he was treated during a 2003 investigation that led to his 10-year dissociation from the school. It’s time to stop making excuses to ignore that and pretend it didn’t happen.Just when it seemed as if the University of Michigan and Chris Webber had taken a step toward reconciliation, Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel denied the former Fab Five member's claim that Manuel had apologized to Webber. Still, the official recognition is warranted and, at this point, overdue. Whether he ever gets in, who knows? If he doesn’t, it’s not like we’ll forget how tremendous he was - after all, it’s not as though Michigan not appearing in the record books doesn’t mean the Wolverines didn’t actually play in two championship games. He was one of the elite players of his generation, one of the guys who helped to define a certain era of the sport.Ĭhris Webber is one of the all-time great basketball players. The lingering animosity over the scandal, and this bizarre fixation upon the supposed sanctity of amateur athletics is keeping Webber out of the Hall, and there’s no good reason for it. No one’s ever questioned his basketball integrity as a result of it, though. Is it the same as Pete Rose betting on games he had a hand in influencing the outcomes of? Still a resounding nope.Ĭhris Webber got paid. Is what he did on the level of players who’ve shaved points or thrown games? Not even close. Was it against the rules? Yeah, no denying that. He never technically played there on account of getting paid as an amateur. Kinda crazy that there were only three teams in the Final Four those years, and only one team in the national championship game, right?īeyond the silliness of such punishments, Webber was completely stricken from Michigan’s record books. The University of Michigan also had to forfeit its victory in the 1992 national runner-up status, as well as the entire 1992-93 season. (AP Photo, File)Īs a result of his admission, his high school - Detroit County Day - had to retroactively forfeit all the games Webber played in, including three state championships. The former member of the Fab Five agreed to a five-year deal, which will pay him $2 million in his first year, on Wednesday, May 22, 2019, to lead the Wolverines. Remember that? Webber wound up pleading guilty to a criminal contempt charge for lying about getting paid by Martin - a prominent booster - dating all the way back to the eighth grade.įILE - In this November 1991 file photo, Michigan's Fab Five, from left, Jimmy King, Juwan Howard, Chris Webber, Jalen Rose and Ray Jackson pose in Ann Arbor, Mich. Really, what this comes down to Webber’s involvement in the Ed Martin scandal. In fact, let’s call it a distraction, or an excuse. No, that’s a smokescreen, and not even a convincing one. Injuries certainly kept him from accumulating the kind of stat totals that Bryant, Duncan, and Garnett racked up, but it’s not like the man wasn’t plenty productive for a number of years. Some people point to his lack of durability and the related dearth of longevity. It’s pretty simple - Chris Webber belongs in the Basketball Hall of Fame. Which is pretty ridiculous if you ever saw the man play.

He’s now in his sixth year of eligibility, and doesn’t appear to be any closer to breaking through to ultimate inclusion in Springfield? His first year of eligibility, he wasn’t even a nominee.

1 overall pick? Rookie of the Year? Five-time All-Star? Five-time All-NBA honoree? Focal point of the incredibly fun and slightly less successful Kings team in the early years of this century? One name not garnering much attention, given all the hoopla surrounding the star-studded group of names among the first-time nominees (Chris Bosh, Shawn Marion, Tamika Catchings and Swin Cash are among the others), however, is Chris Webber.įamed member of the Fab Five? No.

Jalen rose chris webber hall of fame