Former Fab Five star Chris Webber announces memoir set to come out in April

A first-person Hall of Fame story from one of Detroit's own is hitting the shelves in April, promising direct accounts of famous moments and pictures that haven't been revealed to the public.

Michigan and Detroit basketball legend Chris Webber announced he will be releasing a memoir titled "By God's Grace," which is set to come out April 4.

Webber's book details his journey growing up on Detroit's westside, emerging as a top recruit and leading Detroit Country Day to three state championships, turning into a sensation as a part of the Fab Five at Michigan, his 15-year NBA career after being the No. 1 pick and his relationship with those close to him as he became one of the biggest names in sports, all while he said he used faith and family to guide him.

The book is available for pre-order now on his website and will become publically available April 4.

On his website, Webber says the book will include his account of his highs throughout his career as well as his "devastating lows, including his infamous time-out and the years of infertility he and his wife endured before the birth of their twins" while explaining how his faith, or "God's grace" as he put it, guided him through the eventful moments of his life, as well as highlighting his family's journey.

The book promises Webber's first-hand telling of his journey of being one of the most sought-after recruits in Michigan high school basketball history, foreshadowing the pressure waiting for him at Michigan.

Once he got to Ann Arbor, Webber helped reshape the culture surrounding basketball as a part of the Fab Five, who introduced shaved heads, baggy shorts and black socks to the college basketball world. Webber, along with his four other teammates, turned into stars at Michigan, reaching two national titles in as many years together and opening doors for Webber to meet his lifelong idols. But Webber's time in Ann Arbor ended on a famously sour note, with him calling a timeout Michigan didn't have in the national championship against North Carolina.

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The book also focuses on the winding turns of his 15-year NBA career, including being drafted No. 1 in 1993 by the Orlando Magic, ending up on the Golden State Warriors instead, moving to the Washington Bullets to reunite with Juwan Howard, being traded to the Kings as a "low moment" and how his mother helped him through, reshaping the Kings' culture in the early 2000s, becoming a TV commentator in 2012, and how music shaped all of those moments and his memory of them throughout his career.

He is using the book to share the story of his parents, Mayce Webber and Doris Johnson, and how their experiences and sacrifices helped him realize his career and shaped him as a person. According to his website, Webber tells the story of visiting Mississippi, where his father worked the fields in the Jim Crow South, which helped him understand emotional moments with his father earlier in life, like sharing a hug after being selected No. 1 overall and his dad's response to Webber buying him a Cadillac post-draft, after spending years working on a GM assembly line. He also highlighted the work of his mother, a Detroit teacher who fought segregation in the city schools, and how she passed on her community-first mindset, as well as a love for music and reading.

"Before now Webber has never truly shared his own story, deeply from this perspective: His own," the book's website says. "By God’s Grace took Webber nine years to research and write. He wanted to use the book to not only explore his own life and journey from within, but to document his family’s. One of its guiding principles is the idea of community: the people in Webber’s life who raised him, protected him, and helped him become a successful father and husband. The book is, of course, about his famous basketball career and the moments that shaped him, and his philanthropy and passion collecting of African American art and artifacts. But Webber devotes much to his family."

The book will be published by Webber's self-named publishing company, the Webber Publishing Group. The "boutique literary publishing company," as they describe it online, was started because of his vision to publish "authentic stories with purpose and significance," an idea that came to him while he was putting together the memoir. The Webber Publishing Group also published a book titled "Basketball Position Metric," written by Detroit native and former Detroit Mercy basketball player Rashad Phillips.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit's Chris Webber announces memoir set to come out in April