Male Career Achievement Award: Christian Webster, Men's Basketball

Christian Webster is the winningest player in Harvard men’s basketball history. This fact alone speaks to the influence he has had on the Crimson’s success. In his four years at Harvard, he helped take the program from an upstart to a contender to, eventually, three Ivy League championships. But more than that, his presence on the court, in the locker room, and on campus has been invaluable to the Harvard University community at large. Christian was the consummate player, leader, and teammate, and he has left a legacy at this university that will be extremely difficult to surpass.

As a freshman, Christian stepped in and contributed right away on the court; he helped lead the team to its first-ever 20-win season while playing the second-most minutes on the team. As a sophomore, he took on an even greater role as a scorer and defender, and this continued throughout his junior and senior seasons. One of Christian’s greatest attributes as a player was his versatility. In one game during his sophomore season, he racked up almost 30 points; if the team needed him to score, Christian scored. During a win against Columbia later in the year, Christian barely scored at all, yet coach Tommy Amaker lauded his performance defending the Lions’ best player as one of the keys to the win. Christian’s ability and willingness to provide what the team needed when the team needed it made him a critical part of the Crimson’s success throughout his career.

In addition to attaining success as a player, Christian took on the challenging role of a team leader as his career progressed. As a senior, he was asked to spearhead the team with his voice and his play as a co-captain. He would be the first to say that it wasn’t always easy. For his first few years with the team, Christian let his play do the talking for him as other, older players fulfilled the role of vocal leaders. But he grew into the role admirably as the season progressed. He praised his teammates’ accomplishments liberally and his criticism was always aimed at improving the team. He was willing to say what needed to be said to the team or to a player at the appropriate time whether it was praise or criticism. But most importantly, his voice carried weight with his teammates and coaches because of his unwavering dedication to making himself and his team better every day.

Christian was able to be such a great leader because he was an excellent teammate. He was willing to sacrifice points, playing time and headlines to help Harvard win. This was especially evident in his sophomore and junior seasons. Although his individual statistics declined between the two campaigns, he remained a vital component of the team’s success, as the Crimson’s win total increased and it advanced to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1946. In his senior season, Christian’s ability to involve and empower the team’s underclassmen was a crucial reason why Harvard was able to do so well with such a young team. He allowed his talented but less-experienced teammates chances to assert themselves on and off the court, and because of this, the Crimson was able to maximize the talent it had, and become greater than the sum of its parts.

While Christian’s sacrifices were certainly important to Harvard’s success, it would be a grave omission not to highlight his propensity for clutch plays, especially in his senior season. He made three pivotal shots in a row with less than two minutes to play to keep Harvard alive against Dartmouth in an important conference comeback win at home. The following weekend, he made several more important baskets in two overtime periods against Brown in yet another home win. He was quietly confident in his ability as a shooter, and when Harvard urgently needed a basket as games wound down, Christian delivered over and over again.

It would be almost impossible to know all these things about Christian when speaking with him, though. He rarely, if ever, speaks about his personal accomplishments, always choosing to point out the work his teammates and coaches have done before he mentions his own. His genuine humility, positive attitude, and quiet charisma are a credit to himself and his family, and these traits have been invaluable to the Harvard men’s basketball program. Christian has been one of the most important people in the program’s rise to prominence and his presence will be missed greatly by his teammates, coaches and the Harvard community.

Hamel is a junior on the men’s basketball team and has played with Christian Webster for the past three years, all of which ended in Harvard winning an Ivy League championship.