Kendall Webb possessed good speed and had a knack for shooting 3-pointers and driving to the basket, but if pressed to name his greatest attribute as a collegiate student-athlete, Webb was clear.
“I had a determination to prove people wrong,” Webb said. “All my life I had been told I was too short, too small, not fast enough… . That drove me to always want to get better.”
Webb got good enough to become the all-time leading scorer in the history of Wayland Baptist men’s basketball. In his four seasons with the Pioneers from 2003-07, Webb scored 2,074 points.
“They gave me a (commemorative) ball or a plaque, I’m not sure. I’m not big on bragging about accomplishments. And it wasn’t just me who (broke that record). I had a lot of help from my teammates.”
At just 5-foot-10 and 135 pounds, Webb – a self-proclaimed "point-guard with a shooter's mentality” – wasn't heavily recruited out of Canyon Randall High School, where he helped the Raiders make the playoffs three seasons – including the regional finals once -- and averaged close to 19 points as a senior.
“Eastern (New Mexico University) wanted me to visit, but I never went. So it was really just Wayland,” Webb said of his college options. “I was just happy to be playing. I wasn’t the biggest guy. I really developed more in college than I showed in high school.
Webb added that he wasn’t very aggressive, ultimately learning that he would have to earn whatever came his way.
“I guess it took some time for me to realize that things were not going to be given to me; I had to go get it myself. Really, though, I was just happy to be playing.”
Webb did much more than that at Wayland. He flourished for four years.
“I really struggled at the beginning of my freshman year, mostly adjusting to the size, the speed, even workouts,” Webb recalled. “I was just trying to make the team.”
Coach Todd Thurman, whom Webb called a “basketball guru” whose “intensity carried over to everyone else,” informed Webb that he was considering redshirting him his freshman season.
“When I started realizing I could fit in was when we had our first scrimmage against South Plains. I didn’t turn the ball over. I guess that scrimmage I didn’t screw up a lot.”
Webb wound up playing in all 35 games that season – starting eight – and averaging 11.3 points to be named Sooner Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year.
“I wasn’t much of a scorer then, but made myself a role player,” Webb said.
With a 23-12 record and an appearance in the second round of the NAIA National Championships, it was the Pioneers’ most successful season during Webb’s tenure. The Pioneers won a total of 49 games his final three years, including a 20-13 mark and another trip to nationals Webb’s junior season when the team finished with a No. 17 ranking.
The Pioneers mostly struggled Webb’s senior season, the first under coach Robert Davenport, and finished 13-16. The season’s highlight wound up being Webb breaking Michael Parks’ all-time scoring record of 2,015 points, which had stood since 1987.
After scoring 396 points as a freshman, 457 as a sophomore and 566 as a junior, Webb went into his senior year needing 597 points for the record.
“I never really thought too much about it,” Webb said. “As it got closer more people started talking about it. I certainly wasn’t (keeping track).”
The record fell in the Pioneers’ fourth-to-last-game of the season, on Feb. 17 in Chickasha, Okla., in a game against University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma. Webb scored 36 points that afternoon, eclipsing the record by two. He finished the game with six 3-pointers and was 10-of-13 from the free-throw line.
He also made history by being named Wayland’s only SAC Player of the Year and the school’s only two-time non-honorable mention NAIA All-American, earning third-team honors as a junior and first-team honors as a senior. He also was a three-time all-conference pick, including twice on the first team.
Webb credited Davenport’s offense for much of his success.
“His system kind of set my game play. It was the reason I was a first-team all-American.”
Webb, who ended with 477 assists, an average of almost 4.0 per game, said he “usually either shot a 3-pointer or found my way to the basket. I didn’t shoot a lot of mid-range stuff.”
He was known for wearing his hair down to his shoulders and sporting a thick beard.
“I grew it out and donated it to Locks of Love,” an organization that makes wigs for children with long-term medical hair loss. As for his beard, Webb explained, “I got lazy shaving.”
Webb’s hairy look played a role in one of his most memorable moments as a Pioneer during a game in Brownwood against Howard Payne.
“I was making 3-pointers pretty good and a guy in the stands yelled, ‘Somebody guard Jesus!’” he recalled. “I always got kidded for it.”
Webb wound up scoring a personal-best 40 points that game.
He went on to play professional basketball in Germany and Lithuania, but only for a short time.
“I was doing well but got burned out,” he said.
He started his coaching career in 2008 and currently serves as the head girls’ basketball coach at Littlefield High School.
“I got my business degree and thought I wanted to work in the business sector. But after sitting at a desk for eight hours I thought, ‘This is boring.’ So I started teaching lessons and enjoyed being around kids even more. That all kind of brought back that this is what I’ve done my whole life.”
Reflecting on his induction into the WBU Athletics Hall of Honor, Webb – who with wife, Amy, have a 2½-year-old son, Carter, and another child due in January – said it’s very meaningful.
“I’m honored. Not too many people get inducted into their alma mater’s Hall of Honor.”
He said being a student-athlete at Wayland was a blessing, in part because he graduated without any student loans. That was a major deal for the son of a single parent. (Webb’s mother, Maelynn, is an elementary teacher in Amarillo; his dad died when he was in the fourth grade.)
“One of the main reasons I started playing (basketball) was so I could gain a scholarship. For me it was a smart decision.”
He also liked Wayland for the “small-school environment. You knew a lot of the people who were at the games.
“It seems like a blur as far as everything that happened in college. That was something special.”
Kendall Webb – By the Numbers
Season Total Points
2003-04 396
2004-05 457
2005-06 566
2006-07 655
Total 2,074
