Webb a fixture for FMU athletics

FLORENCE

If something significant has happened involving a Francis Marion athletic team, there is a good chance that Marion “Spyder” Webb has been there to see it.

The 56-year-old Florence native has been a mainstay at the university as a student and athletic trainer the last 37 years. In fact, Webb is the only athletic trainer the school has ever had.

“He is an icon and historian in the athletic department,” FMU sports information director Michael Hawkins said.

“When you talk about athletics at Francis Marion, you talk about Spyder. He is the cornerstone of our athletic department,” FMU baseball coach Art Inabinet said.

Webb’s tenure at the school has spanned so long he now trains sons of athletes he once cared for.

“I don’t know if that is a good or bad thing,” Webb said with a laugh. “I consider myself to be one of the luckiest people in the world. Lots of people go to jobs they aren’t necessarily happy with.

“I’ve been fortunate to have the same job for over 30 years and love what I am doing.”

Getting started

Like most kids, Webb grew up loving sports and aspired to be an athlete. While playing football as a sophomore at McClenaghan High School, though, it became obvious to him that it wasn’t going to happen.

“I was a horrendous high school athlete,” Webb said. “I weighed 140 pounds and got the crap beat out of me.”

So, Webb looked into other ways of staying involved in sports and was told about becoming a trainer. He completed training courses and was a student-trainer his last two years of high school.

It also was during his football career that Webb got his nickname “Spyder.” One of his coaches couldn’t remember his first name, but knew his last name.

“From that day on, (Spyder) stuck. My mom and dad call me that to this day,” Webb said.

Coming back home

After graduating high school, Webb attended Clemson for two years and worked under longtime Tiger trainer Fred Hoover. He was the head trainer for the Tigers’ freshman basketball team when freshmen weren’t allowed to play varsity basketball.

Webb enjoyed his time at Clemson “maybe too much” and decided to come back home and go to Francis Marion.

“It was a great decision,” Webb said.

At the time, the FMU only had six sports. Webb was not only responsible for caring for the athletes but driving the buses and helping out with meals.

The school has 12 sports now and, until recently, Webb handled the training duties for all the teams. In 2005, Webb got help as the school began partnering with McLeod Sports Medicine.

“It made things better for the kids because you weren’t so stretched out,” Webb said.
“You can’t be five places in five different times.”

Webb splits some travel with the McLeod trainers -- especially when seasons overlap -- but still travels with men’s soccer, men’s and women’s basketball and baseball.

The “other” job

With FMU’s sports seasons ending in the spring, Webb said he got bored and wanted something to do in the summertime.

In 1977, Webb called the Atlanta Braves and got a job for the team’s shortseason affiliate in Kingsport, Tenn. He worked there two seasons but had a desire to want to see the West Coast.

So, Webb talked to Bob Didier, the manager at Kingsport, about a job in the Mariners’ minor league system. Didier’s father, Mel, was the Minor League Director for the Mariners at the time and gave him a job.

Webb left Friday for his 32nd season as trainer for Seattle’s shortseason affiliate, which was in Bellingham, Wash., before moving to Everett, Wash., in the Northwest League.

Two years ago, the club honored Webb during a pregame ceremony for his 30th year of service.

“He’s the link to the ballclub and our front office,” Everett GM Brian Sloan told the Seattle Times. “I don't know where we'd be without him.”

Webb handles all the training duties in addition to other tasks, such as making hotel reservations, doctor appointments and organizing the team’s bus trips.

“My goal every day is that my manager and players only worry about what goes on between the lines,” Webb said.

Webb also can become emotionally involved during games and has been ejected several times, which doesn’t surprise Inabinet.

“He tends to get really involved during a game,” the FMU baseball coach said. “He was ejected during one of our games and that was a first for me having a trainer getting thrown out.”

During his time with the Mariners, Webb has been the trainer for such Seattle greats as Omar Vizquel, Edgar Martinez and Ken Griffey Jr., who announced his retirement Wednesday.

“I didn’t need to read Baseball America to tell me that Ken Griffey was going to be good,” Webb said. “There was a lot of hype and he lived up to it every day. He thought and knew every ball was his and went and tried to get it.”

Webb said Griffey, the No. 1 overall pick in 1987, was your typical 18-year-old and wasn’t exempt from duties every other team member did such as helping push start the team’s six-cylinder diesel bus.

The bus was more than 30 years old and had no heater, air conditioning or bathroom.

“The bus had its own personality. And when it didn’t want to start, it didn’t,” Webb said. “You told guys you liked to stand on the opposite side of the bus from the exhaust system because when that thing started, there would be a black smoke coming out of it.”

Broken down buses and long road trips are just part of the gig, Webb said. He will have to endure a long one this summer as the team will finish up a series in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and have to travel more than 11 hours and 650 miles to reach its next game in Boise, Idaho.

“The travel is what it is. You just got to put your head down and do it,” Webb said.

Caring for the athletes

Webb has seen the evolution of athletes from the time he started until now and says they take better care of their bodies more to prevent injury.

Technology also has helped do that. Webb recalls a football player back at Clemson suffering a cartilage tear and forcing him to miss three months of the season. Today, Webb said that player would be back in a few weeks.

“There is a lot more ultrasound and muscle stimulation and electric therapy we do now,” Webb said. “This business like any other has definitely evolved.”

Webb works closely with the coaches on making decisions on the athletes’ timetable to return from injury. Athletes, however, have their own agenda sometime and try to coax Webb into letting them get back on the field sooner.

“I ask them straight forward, ‘Who the heck do you think you are trying to fool?’” Webb said. “It doesn’t serve any of us if that athlete isn’t ready to go.”

The athletes are appreciative of Webb. He recalled a senior on FMU’s baseball team pulling him aside after the season to thank him for his efforts.

“He basically told me I’m still around here because you helped me be here,” said Webb, tears in his eyes. “That is why I continue to do what I do. Those kind of moments are what I cherish the most.”