By Terry Mosher

Editor, Sports Paper

Basketball, it seems, is part of the fabric of the Webb Family.

There was I.J. Webb, grandfather of Olympic College’s Ary Webb, a standout player in his high school days in West Virginia, and several generations later it’s Ary and his brothers Ben and Corbin who have become avid hoopsters in Sequim.

“He (I.J. Webb) played and broke a lot of high school records where he grew up in West Virginia,” says Ary Webb, a shooting guard for the Olympic College Rangers. “I don’t know what school he played for but he was really good.”

I.J. Webb passed almost 10 years ago, but he certainly would have been proud of his grandkids. Ben was the first to play at Sequim, and then came Ary and now Corbin, who is starting for Sequim this year.

Ary Webb is a 6-1 starting freshman for the Rangers. He is the Rangers’ best 3-point shooter, and has had several games where he led them in scoring, based on him raining down threes on opponents.

“He’s hit four threes for us in games this year,” says OC coach Billy Landram. “He’s shooting 92 percent from the free throw line, he’s really smart and knows how to play the game, and there’s a little bit of nasty to him. He’s a competitor and when push comes to shove, he will shove back.”

Webb was Sequim’s leading scorer the past couple years and when it came down to a college he choose OC over Peninsula and Centralia, mainly because Landram took the time to visit him at his house.

‘He talked to me a lot and I really like coach Landram,” says Webb, who has seen the Rangers undergo change since the season started, with several players losing their battle with the books. But Webb, who is carrying a 3.1 grade-point average, is doing just fine, both in the classroom and on the court.

“We have a good group of guys,” says Webb of the Rangers. “We are confident. We are not going to get down. We just have to pick it up and play better.”

Webb began playing basketball when he was three. That’s when the family had a little hoop in the living room and he and his older brother Ben would battle their dad (A.J. Webb). They eventually graduated to an outdoor basketball court their dad built.

“Our dad played at Crescent (Joyce, WA.),” says Webb. “He says he held the free throw percentage record at Crescent. It’s a joke. He laughs about it.”

Webb, by the way gets his name from his granddad. I.J. Webb’s first name was Ira and they called him Ary.

To get some polish to his game, Webb played one year – the summer between his junior and senior year at Sequim – with Craig Murray’s Total Package Hoops. Playing in large tournaments around the country helped him expand his game to the point he averaged nearly 18 points a game his senior season.

He may have got the nastiness Landram sees in him from battling his brothers on the family basketball court.

“We three brothers had battles back and fourth throughout the summer time,” says Webb. “We would get into scuffles and fights or somebody would get bruised. I think it made us tough. My older brother beat on me like no other.”

He also has gotten help from Tom Hughes, who he says coached basketball at Foothill High School in Henderson, Nev.

”He moved to Sequim and he started training me, my little brother and some other guys,’ says Webb. “He has trained a lot of athletes. He’s got us on weights and doing a lot of conditioning, dribbling and lot of other drills. I’m a way better player (because of it).”

Landram says Webb, “is not the best athlete in the world, but he’s better than most people think. He just has to work on changing his body, getting more muscular, and work on his feet.”

Webb is a realist about his ability and where he might fit in at a four-year school. He will continue to work hard and get better and if a four-year school comes calling, that would be great. If not, he will go on to school without basketball.

“It would be a dream (to play basketball at the next level),” he says. “I just want to get my degree.”

He is interested in culinary arts, and might turn out to be a chef.

“I really like to cook,” he says. “I always have.”

And he’s picky about what he eats. No dairy products like milk and cheese, meat or sugar.

“I don’t eat fast foods,” Webb says.

He does, however, eat up defenders who give him too much slack. Give Webb room and he can bury a shot quickly from 3-point range.