Chris Washburn
Encyclopedia
Christopher Scott Washburn (born May 13, 1966 in Hickory, North Carolina
) is an American former professional basketball
player.
, Washburn was one of the top three high school recruits in the country in 1984 along with John Williams
(LSU) and Danny Manning
(Kansas). He signed with North Carolina State University
in Raleigh
along with future NBA stars Vinny Del Negro
and Nate McMillan
to form one of the best recruiting classes in the nation on a team that also included Spud Webb
. An incredibly gifted athlete, Washburn combined incredible size with blazing speed for a big man with soft hands.
According to some of his former teammates, however, Washburn was a student in name only. It is alleged that he almost never attended classes. Even so, Washburn remained eligible to play. During his time at N.C. State, he was caught stealing a stereo, which resulted in his being sentenced to 46 hours in jail, a five-year suspended prison
term and five years of probation. During his trial, the Wake County
district attorney
introduced as evidence Washburn's SAT
scores, which were below 500 (out of 1600, with 400 being the starting score). "The coaches over there told me, ‘You already signed, you’re already in school, you just have to take the test just to get into college,’ ” Washburn said later. When they told me it didn’t matter what score I was getting, I went in for about 22 minutes. I just marked down [answers] … mark, mark, mark."
His work ethic
was also called into question. Recruiting analyst Bob Gibbons
claimed that Washburn was "never as good as his reputation," even as a high-school All-American. Gibbons was blasted by many N.C. State fans for suggesting that Washburn was going to break the Wolfpack basketball program, in response to coach Valvano
's claim that Washburn would make the program.
The one full season Washburn played with the Wolfpack demonstrated his potential. He averaged 17.6 points a game and 6.7 rebounds, sharing time in the front court with future NBA players Charles Shackleford
and Chucky Brown
. Washburn's best outing was against future top NBA draft pick Brad Daugherty and UNC
on Feb. 23, 1986. Before a nationally-televised audience, Washburn scored 26 points as the Wolfpack upset the then-ranked #1 Tar Heels 76-65.
Washburn's case was one of many detailed by Peter Golenbock
in his book, Personal Fouls, that effectively ended Valvano's career in 1990. While several errors in the book eventually led publishing house Simon and Schuster to drop the book, (it was finally published by Pocket Books), no one disputed Washburn's poor status as a student. In January 1989, Richard Lauffer, a former chair of the physical-education department at N.C. State, claimed Washburn's grades had been altered to maintain the player's eligibility.
with the 3rd overall pick of the 1986 NBA Draft
. Washburn was the third consecutive Atlantic Coast Conference
player taken in the 1986 draft, following UNC center Brad Daugherty (Cleveland Cavaliers) and Maryland forward Len Bias
(Boston Celtics).
The Warriors brought in center Joe Barry Carroll
to help with Washburn's development, but it was to no avail. The highlight of Washburn's career may have come during an October exhibition game in his rookie season against the Knicks. During a 23-point loss, Washburn scored 16 points. Tendinitis in his knee resulted in Washburn taking anti-inflammatory medicine which led to a kidney infection in January 1987. On January 28, 1987, Washburn checked into a Van Nuys, California drug rehabilitation clinic, admitting he had a cocaine problem. After returning to the Warriors in late March, Washburn was still ineffective.
He played 72 games over two seasons (one and a half with the Warriors and part of another with the Atlanta Hawks
), averaging 3.1 points and 2.4 rebounds per game. He is widely considered to be one of the biggest busts in NBA draft history. In 2005 Sports Illustrated
named him the second-biggest NBA draft bust of all time.
During his time with the Hawks, Washburn was asked by the media how he felt about the team playing an exhibition game in The Soviet Union
. Washburn snarled "Russia
? I ain't going to no Russia!"
Washburn was banned from the NBA for life in June 1989 after failing three drug tests in three years. By the mid-1990s, Washburn was still trying to scrape together a basketball career in various minor professional leagues.
Washburn has reformed from his drug habit since 2000, and working in the mortgage business in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. He speaks to addicts weekly at the Dallas Life Foundation Center.
Hickory, North Carolina
Hickory is a city in Catawba County, North Carolina. Hickory has the 162nd largest urban area in the United States. As of the 2000 census, the Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 341,851, making it the 4th largest metropolitan area in North Carolina. The city's population was 37,222...
) is an American former professional basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
player.
College career
A 6'11" centerCenter (basketball)
The center, colloquially known as the five or the post, is one of the standard positions in a regulation basketball game. The center is normally the tallest player on the team, and often has a great deal of strength and body mass as well...
, Washburn was one of the top three high school recruits in the country in 1984 along with John Williams
John Sam Williams
John Sam Williams is a retired American basketball player. Williams played collegiately for LSU, and was drafted into the National Basketball Association by the Washington Bullets in 1986 with the 12th overall pick.His girth earned him the nickname 'Hotplate' Williams, in part to help distinguish...
(LSU) and Danny Manning
Danny Manning
Daniel Ricardo "Danny" Manning is a retired American professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association. He is an assistant basketball coach at his alma mater, the University of Kansas Jayhawks. Manning won the National Championship with the Jayhawks in 1988 as a player, and...
(Kansas). He signed with North Carolina State University
North Carolina State University
North Carolina State University at Raleigh is a public, coeducational, extensive research university located in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Commonly known as NC State, the university is part of the University of North Carolina system and is a land, sea, and space grant institution...
in Raleigh
Raleigh, North Carolina
Raleigh is the capital and the second largest city in the state of North Carolina as well as the seat of Wake County. Raleigh is known as the "City of Oaks" for its many oak trees. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city's 2010 population was 403,892, over an area of , making Raleigh...
along with future NBA stars Vinny Del Negro
Vinny Del Negro
Vincent Joseph "Vinny" Del Negro is a retired American basketball player. He is the current head coach of the NBA's Los Angeles Clippers, and was the head coach of the Chicago Bulls from 2008 until 2010.-Early life:...
and Nate McMillan
Nate McMillan
Nathaniel "Nate" McMillan is a retired American professional basketball player and current head coach of the NBA's Portland Trail Blazers...
to form one of the best recruiting classes in the nation on a team that also included Spud Webb
Spud Webb
Anthony Jerome Webb , also known as Spud Webb, is a retired American NBA professional basketball point guard most notable for winning a slam dunk contest despite being one of the shortest NBA players in the history of the league...
. An incredibly gifted athlete, Washburn combined incredible size with blazing speed for a big man with soft hands.
According to some of his former teammates, however, Washburn was a student in name only. It is alleged that he almost never attended classes. Even so, Washburn remained eligible to play. During his time at N.C. State, he was caught stealing a stereo, which resulted in his being sentenced to 46 hours in jail, a five-year suspended prison
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
term and five years of probation. During his trial, the Wake County
Wake County, North Carolina
Wake County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2010 census, the population was 900,993 making it North Carolina's second most populated county...
district attorney
District attorney
In many jurisdictions in the United States, a District Attorney is an elected or appointed government official who represents the government in the prosecution of criminal offenses. The district attorney is the highest officeholder in the jurisdiction's legal department and supervises a staff of...
introduced as evidence Washburn's SAT
SAT
The SAT Reasoning Test is a standardized test for college admissions in the United States. The SAT is owned, published, and developed by the College Board, a nonprofit organization in the United States. It was formerly developed, published, and scored by the Educational Testing Service which still...
scores, which were below 500 (out of 1600, with 400 being the starting score). "The coaches over there told me, ‘You already signed, you’re already in school, you just have to take the test just to get into college,’ ” Washburn said later. When they told me it didn’t matter what score I was getting, I went in for about 22 minutes. I just marked down [answers] … mark, mark, mark."
His work ethic
Work ethic
Work ethic is a set of values based on hard work and diligence. It is also a belief in the moral benefit of work and its ability to enhance character. An example would be the Protestant work ethic...
was also called into question. Recruiting analyst Bob Gibbons
Bob Gibbons
Bob Gibbons is a talent scout specializing in American high school basketball players. He is based in Lenoir, North Carolina.Gibbons founded All-Star Sports in 1974. Before that, he was a high school player and coach...
claimed that Washburn was "never as good as his reputation," even as a high-school All-American. Gibbons was blasted by many N.C. State fans for suggesting that Washburn was going to break the Wolfpack basketball program, in response to coach Valvano
Jim Valvano
James Thomas Anthony "Jim" Valvano , nicknamed Jimmy V, was an American college basketball coach.While the head basketball coach at North Carolina State University, he won the 1983 NCAA Basketball Tournament against high odds...
's claim that Washburn would make the program.
The one full season Washburn played with the Wolfpack demonstrated his potential. He averaged 17.6 points a game and 6.7 rebounds, sharing time in the front court with future NBA players Charles Shackleford
Charles Shackleford
Charles Edward Shackleford is an American former professional basketball player.Shackleford played collegiate basketball at North Carolina State University for 3 seasons . He was selected by the New Jersey Nets in the 2nd round of the 1988 NBA Draft...
and Chucky Brown
Chucky Brown
Clarence "Chucky" Brown is a retired American professional basketball player.A 6'7" forward from North Carolina State, Brown was selected by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the second round of the 1989 NBA Draft...
. Washburn's best outing was against future top NBA draft pick Brad Daugherty and UNC
North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball
The North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball program is the intercollegiate men's basketball of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and is considered one of the most successful programs in NCAA history...
on Feb. 23, 1986. Before a nationally-televised audience, Washburn scored 26 points as the Wolfpack upset the then-ranked #1 Tar Heels 76-65.
Washburn's case was one of many detailed by Peter Golenbock
Peter Golenbock
Peter Golenbock is a sports journalist and author. He is best known for the 1975 book Dynasty: The New York Yankees 1949–1964 about the Yankees of that era...
in his book, Personal Fouls, that effectively ended Valvano's career in 1990. While several errors in the book eventually led publishing house Simon and Schuster to drop the book, (it was finally published by Pocket Books), no one disputed Washburn's poor status as a student. In January 1989, Richard Lauffer, a former chair of the physical-education department at N.C. State, claimed Washburn's grades had been altered to maintain the player's eligibility.
NBA career and present
Washburn left N.C. State after the 1985-86 season and was selected by the Golden State WarriorsGolden State Warriors
The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in Oakland, California. They are part of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association...
with the 3rd overall pick of the 1986 NBA Draft
1986 NBA Draft
-Drug and health issues involving drafted players:There were various drug-related problems that plagued players in the 1986 NBA draft. Most notable was the death of highly-touted Len Bias. Bias died less than two days after being selected second overall by the defending champion Boston Celtics. His...
. Washburn was the third consecutive Atlantic Coast Conference
Atlantic Coast Conference
The Atlantic Coast Conference is a collegiate athletic league in the United States. Founded in 1953 in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC sanctions competition in twenty-five sports in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association for its twelve member universities...
player taken in the 1986 draft, following UNC center Brad Daugherty (Cleveland Cavaliers) and Maryland forward Len Bias
Len Bias
Leonard Kevin "Len" Bias was a first team All-American college basketball player at the University of Maryland. He was selected by the Boston Celtics as the second overall pick in the 1986 NBA Draft on June 17, but died two days later from cardiac arrhythmia induced by a cocaine overdose...
(Boston Celtics).
The Warriors brought in center Joe Barry Carroll
Joe Barry Carroll
Joe Barry Carroll is a retired American professional basketball player who spent ten seasons in the NBA.-1974–1976:...
to help with Washburn's development, but it was to no avail. The highlight of Washburn's career may have come during an October exhibition game in his rookie season against the Knicks. During a 23-point loss, Washburn scored 16 points. Tendinitis in his knee resulted in Washburn taking anti-inflammatory medicine which led to a kidney infection in January 1987. On January 28, 1987, Washburn checked into a Van Nuys, California drug rehabilitation clinic, admitting he had a cocaine problem. After returning to the Warriors in late March, Washburn was still ineffective.
He played 72 games over two seasons (one and a half with the Warriors and part of another with the Atlanta Hawks
Atlanta Hawks
The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta, Georgia. They are part of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association .-The first years:...
), averaging 3.1 points and 2.4 rebounds per game. He is widely considered to be one of the biggest busts in NBA draft history. In 2005 Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...
named him the second-biggest NBA draft bust of all time.
During his time with the Hawks, Washburn was asked by the media how he felt about the team playing an exhibition game in The Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. Washburn snarled "Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
? I ain't going to no Russia!"
Washburn was banned from the NBA for life in June 1989 after failing three drug tests in three years. By the mid-1990s, Washburn was still trying to scrape together a basketball career in various minor professional leagues.
Washburn has reformed from his drug habit since 2000, and working in the mortgage business in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. He speaks to addicts weekly at the Dallas Life Foundation Center.