By Harry Minium
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – Since I first met Paul and Charlotte Webb in the early 1980s, I've rarely seen them apart. They were a team in every sense of the word, and that includes his nearly three decades as a college head basketball coach.
Coaches are absent from the home for long periods to travel to road games, to recruit and to attend tournaments and conventions. When Paul was gone, Charlotte took care of the home front, making sure everything was clean, meals were cooked and the bills were paid.
She took the leading role in raising their four children and all reflected her love, discipline and compassion – all four have led successful lives.
But she played a far bigger role in Paul's success than just keeping a happy home. She was, former players say, his biggest recruiting asset.
During Paul's 10 seasons as Old Dominion's head coach, from 1976-76 through 1984-85, she attended every home game and every reception or banquet and was at every dinner her husband hosted with recruits in Hampton Roads.
Once you were in her home, ate her delicious cooking and were taken in by her southern charm and her physical beauty, you realized she was much more than just Paul Webb's wife.
She would be your surrogate mother while you were playing at ODU, and when you departed, you would remain a part of the Webb family for a lifetime.
"Mrs. Webb, she was the godmother and caretaker of ODU basketball," former ODU star and long-time NBA player Kenny Gattison said.
"I didn't come to Norfolk to play for Old Dominion. I came to play for coach Webb and Mrs. Webb was such a big part of his life.
"And because I played at ODU, she became a big part of my life.
"Twenty-five years after I stopped playing for ODU, Mrs. Webb still talked to my mother regularly. That says it all about Mrs. Webb. You were always family with her."
No wonder ODU won 191 games, went to postseason play nine out of 10 seasons and defeated Virginia, Georgetown and No. 3 Syracuse and No. 1 DePaul during Webb's tenure. It was arguably ODU's best decade of basketball since the school opened in 1930.
The Webbs grieved when the ODU basketball family lost two members in 2021 – former long-time booster Claude Stafford and Vanessa Hudson, the sister of long-time former ODU sports information director Carol Hudson.
And, of course, the ODU basketball family grieved again last month when Charlotte passed on peacefully in a Virginia Beach hospital.
She was surrounded by family, including sons Ken, Eddie and Doug, daughter Deborah and Cheryl Webb, Eddie Webb's wife, in addition to her husband.
She was 90 years old.
Eddie Webb played for his father at Randolph-Macon and coached with him at ODU and recalls then during his father's time in Norfolk, "she was as much a part of the basketball program as the coaches were.
"When the players came out of the locker room, they always came to see her first. After graduation, they came to see her. They thought the world of her."
The Webbs were married for 72 years, an incredible achievement at a time when half of all marriages fail. And perhaps one reason why is that they shared common interests and had common goals. Their lives revolved around family and basketball.
Two years ago, they celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary by attending an ODU basketball banquet at the Norfolk Yacht and Country Club.
They quietly attended most ODU men's basketball games since Paul retired in 1985.
Eddie now runs the Paul Webb Basketball Camps, but Paul will be there this summer mixing with the boys and girls like he has every year for more than half a century, minus the last two summers because of the pandemic.
Although it was shortly before Christmas, and schedules were busy, many who knew her through ODU took the time to attend her celebration of life, including former Athletic Director Jim Jarrett and wife, Sugie; former senior associate athletic director Debbie White, former assistant coach Mike Pollio, Hudson and too many former players to mention.
Held at Baylake United Methodist Church just before Christmas, the theme of the celebration was her love of family, and especially her love for her husband.
"My grandmother loved God, she loved her family, and she utterly adored my Granddaddy for 72 years of marriage," said Kelsey Summer Webb Percy, one of seven grandchildren who delivered a powerful eulogy.
Theirs was indeed a love story worthy of retelling. They were students at Petersburg High School when they began dating. For whatever reason, Paul said he can't remember why, he stopped calling her.
Then, one night, she walked into an ice cream parlor, where he was munching on a cone, with another guy on her arm.
"I said to myself, 'you stupid SOB,'" he recalled.
He knew then that Charlotte was the only woman he wanted in his life. It took months for him to persuade her to go out with him again, but he was persistent. She later admitted, she knew she was going to give in.
"I was very much in love with Paul," she said during an interview a few years ago.
Paul was a sophomore at the College of William & Mary when they got married.
Eddie Webb said that one of his mother's most endearing qualities was her ability to listen and her modesty.
"I never heard her ever sit down and talk about herself," he said. "She always wanted to know about you. She never wanted to tell anyone about her life.
"Unless someone asked her, she never talked about herself."
Basketball was obviously important to Paul and remains so. But he always made sure that everyone knew Charlotte was his top priority.
Pastor Anita Mays-Lucord, the Webbs' niece, said during her homily at Charlotte's celebration of life that she often attended events in which her uncle was honored for his coaching success.
"When Paul got up to speak, the first thing he made clear to everyone, but especially to Charlotte, was that the greatest accomplishment, the smartest choice and the biggest blessing of his life was marrying Charlotte," she said.
Ronnie Wade, the Richmond native who played for Webb, said that was the case when she would attend team events.
"It's like they were one person," he said. "Whenever I saw Paul, she was always there. She knew when to give him space, but he made sure that we all knew she was there and how important she was to him."
Their close relationship is certainly reflected in their children. Eddie coached at ODU and VCU before becoming executive director of the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame. He is now retired. Deborah is a bookkeeper in Florida who was steadfastly at her mother's side for several weeks while she was ill.
Doug is the director of athletic development at Randolph-Macon College and Ken is an executive in the food industry.
In addition to seven grandchildren, Paul and Charlotte have 14 great-grandchildren, including 13 boys. In all, the family had grown from two members to 35 when Charlotte passed.
The family decided that the grandchildren and great grandchildren would lead the celebration of life and they performed admirably. Granddaughter Jennifer Webb MacPherson did a scripture reading of 1 Corinthians 13, in which Saint Paul described love as patient and kind.
Granddaughter Shelby Webb Foltz sang an emotional rendering of the Lord's Prayer that I recorded and have listened to many times since.
Grandsons Bryce, Gavin and Paul and great grandsons Bailey and Brylee Webb were all pallbearers at a burial service for family only, in which granddaughter Brittany Sanders and great granddaughter Gibson Marie White did special readings.
Kelsey Summer Webb Percy spiked her eulogy with humor – like how the grandkids, while sitting in the back seat of the car, would sing "Jingle Bell Rock" when she asked them to sing "Jingle Bells."
When they went out for Christmas dinner, Charlotte called ahead to make sure clean white linens were on the table. "And she ensured that we ate our soup with manners," she said. "For those who don't know, you're supposed to scoop out, not in."
That's something I did not know.
But she also spoke emotionally, and twice had to stop to hold back tears.
"Seventy-two years of marriage, that's something to aspire to, including myself," she said. "Their marriage wasn't one just of longevity, it was one of mutual respect for each other. It was genuine love and the enjoyment of each other's company.
"Granddaddy, you loved her like a real man loves his wife. You stood by her and stood up for her and demanded that she get the respect she deserves.
"There was no coach Webb without Charlotte Webb, and trust me, everyone remembered Charlotte Webb. I would love to know how many recruits, many of you sitting in this room, that Granddaddy got when they laid eyes on Mrs. Webb."
Although the service was in a church, she drew an emotional ovation from the several hundred mourners there.
Following the service, Paul walked to Charlotte's portrait at the front of the church, bowed his head and whispered something to her. He wouldn't tell me what he said, saying it was a private moment, but there were few dry eyes in the church when he walked out.
Eddie Webb said that when she died, "she went peacefully. She was not in pain and her family was right there with her.
"If there is anyone that you knew where she was going (after death), it was my mom. She was such an amazing woman."
Who lived an amazing life.
Minium worked 39 years at The Virginian-Pilot before coming to ODU in 2018. He covers all ODU athletic teams for odusports.com Follow him on Twitter @Harry_MiniumODU, Instagram @hbminium1 or email hminium@odu.edu
Minium: Charlotte Webb was Paul Webb's Greatest Asset When He Coached ODU Basketball
