Marcus Webb Says He's Matured

April 17, 1994


EX-CELTIC SAYS HE'S MATURED


When he arrived in Boston last year as a new Celtics player, Marcus Webb quickly became a fixture in clubs and bars from Daisy Buchanan's in the Back Bay to the Harbor Club on the waterfront.

Webb often traveled with a small entourage of fellow pro athletes and girlfriends. Young, attractive and rich, Webb and his friends cut a swath through some of the city's most fashionable nightspots.

But for Webb, the good times came to a grinding halt.

The Celtics forward first gained notoriety when he told the team he missed a doctor's appointment and a practice because police wrongly stopped him while driving on Route 9. Police said that no such incident occurred.

Then, within a 10-day period in March, Webb was arrested twice, first for allegedly slapping an ex-girlfriend and then for allegedly raping his girlfriend at the time. Another ex-girlfriend sued for child support.

The Celtics soon after fined him for lying about the status of his driver's license. Finally, the team cut him. Webb wound up in a jail cell because he could not raise $25,000 bail.

"I'm a very changed person today because of all those things that happened in Boston," Webb said last week in a telephone interview from Pau, France, where he plays for the local team in the French professional basketball league.

Webb said he did a lot of growing up in Boston. But he says he didn't do all the things he was accused of doing.

"I don't want to think about it all. It's over. It's just something that happened," he said.

Webb eventually agreed to plead guilty to sexually assaulting his former girlfriend and was sentenced to 30 days in prison.

After his release from Concord state prison, Webb was given a tryout by the Los Angeles Clippers. But the Clippers were too nervous about possible public relations problems to give Webb a fair chance, according to his agent. Webb packed his bags for Europe.

Looking back, Webb said the best thing that happened to him in Boston was meeting his fiancee, Kathryn West of Cambridge. An August wedding is planned in Montgomery, Ala., Webb's hometown.

In the meantime, Webb, 23, is averaging 19 points and 9 rebounds a game. He's one of the premier players in the league. But he wants to return to the NBA. If he does, he said he'll do things differently this time around.

"I've got family responsibilities now," he said. "I'm more mature."