Every time a city basketball legend like Marvin Webster passes away, the void screams louder. Where is Baltimore basketball's place of honor? Where do the sport's versions of Johnny Unitas and Cal Ripken Jr. go to be immortalized?
As Webster's friends, family, teammates and coaches said goodbye to him last week, they pondered those questions, and of course had no answer. They believe their sport is as close to the heart of Charm City as football and baseball - that, in fact, while the individual teams in other sports are revered in Baltimore and throughout Maryland, basketball stakes a much greater claim.
Yet in comparison, basketball is practically neglected - until tragedy strikes one of its stars.
"Yeah, it would be something, to be able to hang this someplace special," said Webster's brother, the Rev. Steve Webster, who was carrying Marvin's framed Morgan State jersey from a Randallstown funeral home the day before his funeral.
Michael Gibbons agrees. The executive director of the Sports Legends at Camden Yards museum continues his quest to add a full-time basketball exhibit to those honoring the old Colts and Orioles, and the Ravens. Gibbons has been trying for two years to acquire enough memorabilia from both versions of the Baltimore Bullets to anchor such an exhibit. Last summer, Carmelo Anthony donated several items to an exhibit honoring his presence on the Olympic gold-medal team in Beijing.
Besides those, individual salutes to the national champion men's and women's teams at Maryland, and special programs at the museum, the basketball cupboard is bare.
Webster's death two weeks ago, at age 56, struck the same nerve with Gibbons as it did with everybody close to the basketball scene in Baltimore. "Ah, the Eraser," Gibbons sighed, invoking Webster's famous nickname. "We would love to get stuff in here from the Human Eraser."
But that's as problematic as every other attempt to build up the collection - the cost of such expansion in these economic times, the difficulty in gathering memorabilia and the fact that the pro game left town 36 years ago.
"There's no team, no current team. So it's diffuse. It's complicated in different ways," Gibbons said.
