Sports
Spud Webb
Dallas-born Spud Webb turned Wilmer-Hutchins and Midland College roots into a 12-season NBA career, with his hometown 1986 Slam Dunk Contest victory becoming one of basketball's most enduring underdog images.
- Roster rank
- #132
- Category
- Sports
- Subject type
- Person
- Profile source
- Published Texas Icons profile
Texas story
Life and career
Anthony 'Spud' Webb was born in Dallas and played at Wilmer-Hutchins High School before Midland College and NC State. At 5-foot-6, he reached the NBA despite being far smaller than the league's typical guard.
Webb played 12 NBA seasons and won the 1986 Slam Dunk Contest in Dallas, defeating teammate Dominique Wilkins. The dunk title became his signature moment, but his longer significance is that he sustained an NBA career beyond the novelty attached to his height.
Defining work
What to know
- 1986 Slam Dunk Contest
- 12 NBA seasons
- Wilmer-Hutchins
- Midland College
Timeline
Key milestones
- 1963Born in Dallas.
- 1982Leads Midland College to a junior-college national title.
- 1985Begins NBA career.
- 1986Wins the Slam Dunk Contest in Dallas.
Texas connections
Places in the story
Dallas
Birthplace, high-school home and site of the 1986 dunk title.
Midland
Junior-college development and championship.
Legacy
Why the story lasts
Webb's dunk-contest win remains one of the NBA's most famous size-defying performances.
His Texas roots span Dallas high-school basketball and Midland College before national fame.
The Dallas dunk title is remembered because it condensed Webb's career into one dramatic image, but his Texas development was broader. Wilmer-Hutchins and Midland College gave him competitive stages before the NBA, and the fact that he remained in the league for more than a decade matters as much as the contest itself: the career outlasted the novelty narrative built around his height.
Sources
Research trail
Cross-linked profiles