Nate Webber is well known around the Notre Dame High School, Lawrenceville, community as the head of the athletic department. And now he can add being a double gold medalist winner to the list.
Last month, Webber received two gold medals in the Pennsylvania Senior Olympics. Competing in the 60-64 age bracket, he took gold in the free throw competition by draining 19 of 20 from the line, and also set the pace in 3-pointers made by hitting 9 of 15 from behind the arc.
Through his skill, determination and years of experience, Webber said it was his hope “to inspire our Notre Dame students to always give their best and accept nothing less – and most importantly to never quit.”
A native of the Keystone State’s Lancaster County region, Webber now lives in Yardley, Pa. After serving in various roles as coach, athletic director and principal at Nottingham and Steinert High Schools, both in Hamilton, he arrived at Notre Dame prior to the 2021-22 school year.
The school’s main mission of providing students with a quality Catholic education, he said, became as important to him as the sports teams.
“Faith is most important to me, and I try to follow Notre Dame’ Mercy Core Values on a daily basis,” Webber said. “I am thankful I am a part of the inspirational Notre Dame community.”
Webber was always a strong 3-point and free throw shooter in high school and while playing for Elizabethtown College. In 1998, while at Nottingham, Webber established a world record by making 6221 of 8543 3-pointers in a 24-hour span in memory of his mother to raise money for cancer.
While Peter Kelly, a parishioner of Our Lady of Sorrows/St. Anthony Parish, Hamilton, and one of Nottingham’s all-time great players, did not actually play for Webber, Kelly recalled attending basketball camps that Webber hosted as a youngster.
“I remember being in awe of his jump shot and ability to consistently make outside shots while simultaneously lecturing us about the shooting principles of ‘BEEF’ — balance, eyes, elbow, follow through,” said Kelly, who was the school’s career 3-point leader when he graduated. “I put the skills he taught me into practice during my career and enjoyed when, as AD at Nottingham, he would drop by before our practices and challenge me to a quick game of HORSE. He always got the best of me.”
The way Webber sees it, being a first-time competitor in the Pennsylvania Senior Olympics “was a way to honor so many people — my family, extended family, the wonderful people from Cocalico and Denver Pa., all of my coaches through the years, and the wonderful people from Trenton, Hamilton and Notre Dame who accepted me into their communities and were positive role models for me as a person, coach and educator,” he said.
There was no qualifying involved to participate in the Pennsylvania Senior Olympics. Webber just had to show up and do his thing, which he did so successfully that he qualified for the National Senior Olympics in Des Moines, Iowa, to be held next summer.
“I didn’t train that much, but I did use a lot of IcyHot,” Webber said with a laugh. “If I decide to go to Nationals I will need to train, mostly to deal with arthritis and knee and shoulder issues.”
If Webber does go to Des Moines, Kelly will be among the fans rooting for him.
“I’m glad to see all these years later he is still doing it at a high level and I guess I have nothing to be ashamed of that I couldn’t ever take him down in HORSE,” Kelly said. “After all, he is a gold medalist.”