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Retired Kings legend Chris Webber, who now spends his days as an NBA analyst, a proud father and even an accomplished actor, spent Monday back in Sacramento to deliver a powerful and passionate speech to students on the campus of Sacramento State.
The 45-year-old Webber was the keynote speaker for Sac State's Student Academic Success Day, where he shared his story of growing up in the national spotlight, suffering his biggest on-court blunder with Michigan in the 1993 NCAA Championship game where he called the infamous timeout, and even struggling the idea of joining the Kings when he was traded to Sacramento in 1998.
Webber told the hundreds of students packed inside the student ballroom that success is about more than wins and material things; It's about how you persevere.
"Success is a journey, it's not a destination," Webber told ABC10. "It you think it's a destination, something material or (a) job, you're going to be disappointed because you have to wake up tomorrow. And how do you live successfully with peace of mind, with harmony, with love and with friends? It's not a destination, it's a way of life."
WATCH: Chris Webber's full speech at Sacramento State on Monday.
While reluctant to initially report to Sacramento after the trade from Washington, Webber would spend the best years of his 17-year NBA career with the Kings. In his seven seasons in the Capital City, Webber would be named to five All-Star teams and five All NBA teams. His jersey, donning No. 4 is retired by the Kings and hangs from the rafters inside Golden 1 Center.
He calls Sacramento his home and admits that's even hard to believe, even today.
"Who knew that this would be my home, I mean how could that happen?" Webber asked the crowd, after recapping the success he enjoyed with Michigan's Fab Five, despite not winning a national championship.
Webber then referenced his biggest achievement which he believes was stolen from him as an NBA player in 2002, when the Kings lost a heartbreaking Western Conference Finals to the Los Angeles Lakers where controversy played a major factor.
"Who knew that this would be my home? How did I know that we'd really would win a (NBA) championship and get cheated by the Lakers, and everybody know it, but we just wouldn't have a ring?" Webber joked, as the crowd responded with a raucous cheer.
His many successes and few setbacks on the basketball floor, are well chronicled, and they have led him to being a finalist for the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. But Webber told the crowd that his biggest success in his life is being the father of twins - a son and a daughter with his wife Erika, after several years of trying.
"Success for me is having a family; success for me is having loved ones," Webber said. "Don't let anyone define what success is to you."
Follow Sean Cunningham on Twitter: @SeanCunningham
