Christian Ansgar Welp (January 2, 1964 – March 1, 2015) was a German professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player. During his playing career, he was a ,

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

. He played three seasons in the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

. He was the

MVP MVP most commonly refers to: * Most valuable player, an award, typically for the best performing player in a sport or competition * Minimum viable product, a concept for feature estimating used in business and engineering MVP may also refer to: ...

of the

1993 EuroBasket The 1993 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1993, was the 28th FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship, held by FIBA Europe. It was held in Germany between 22 June and 4 July 1993. Sixteen national teams entere ...

College career

Welp became the leading scorer in

Washington Huskies The Washington Huskies are the college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Washington, located in Seattle. The school competes at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) N ...

history, as a

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

player. He scored 2,073 points for the Huskies, and was a three-time All-

Pac-10 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level for all sports, and its football teams compete in the Football Bowl ...

Conference selection. Welp was the Pac-10 Player of the Year in 1986, and helped lead the Huskies to consecutive conference regular-season titles. Welp was inducted into the Husky Hall of Fame, in 2001.

Professional career

NBA

Welp was selected 16th overall, in the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

(NBA)'s 1987 draft, by the

Philadelphia 76ers The Philadelphia 76ers, also known colloquially as the Sixers, are an American professional basketball team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The 76ers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlan ...

, and he played three seasons in the NBA. In December 1987, he slipped on a wet court in Chicago, the night after a Blackhawks' hockey game. Welp remembered, "There was condensation on the floor, and the ball boys were mopping the floor the whole game," and the injury "was so severe, my knee never got back to the level it was before. But no excuses." He was traded by the 76ers, along with

Maurice Cheeks Maurice Edward Cheeks (born September 8, 1956) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who serves as assistant coach for the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He has also served as head coach of ...

and David Wingate, to the

San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA ...

, in exchange for

Johnny Dawkins Johnny Earl Dawkins Jr. (born September 28, 1963) is an American basketball coach and former player who is the head coach for the UCF men's basketball team. From 2008 to 2016, he was the head coach of Stanford. He was a two-time All-American an ...

and

Jay Vincent Jay Fletcher Vincent (born June 10, 1959) is an American former professional basketball player. He played college basketball for the Michigan State Spartans. Vincent was selected 24th overall by the Dallas Mavericks in the 1981 NBA draft. He pl ...

, during the off-season of 1989. He was used sparingly by the Spurs, before being traded to the

Golden State Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. Founded in 1946 i ...

, in exchange for

Uwe Blab Uwe Konstantin Blab (born March 26, 1962) is a German former professional basketball player who had a five-year career in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Due to his red hair, Blab was nicknamed “Burning Skyscraper”, especially afte ...

(another German-born NBA center), at the trade deadline, during the

1989–90 NBA season The 1989–90 NBA season was the 44th season of the National Basketball Association. The season ended with the Detroit Pistons winning their second consecutive NBA Championship, beating the Portland Trail Blazers 4 games to 1 in the NBA Finals. ...

. After a handful of games with the Warriors, his NBA career ended.

Europe

From 1990 to 1996, Welp played in Germany, with

Bayer Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen, officially known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH () and commonly known as Bayer Leverkusen or simply Leverkusen, is a German professional football club based in Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It competes in the B ...

, with which he won six German national league championships and three German Cups. For the 1996–97 season, Welp played with the Greek League club

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós (, Olympic Association of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number of different competitive departments which participate in football, ...

, winning the

EuroLeague The EuroLeague is a European men's professional basketball club competition. The league is widely recognised as the top-tier and the most prestigious men's basketball league in Europe. The league consists of 20 teams, of which 16 are given lon ...

title with them (and also the Triple Crown). In the 1997–98 season, he played with the German league club

Alba Berlin Alba Berlin is a professional basketball club that is based in Berlin, Germany. The club was founded in 1991, and is today the largest German national basketball club by membership figures. Alba Berlin hosts its home games at the Uber Arena and c ...

. He also played with the Italian league club

Viola Reggio Calabria Viola Reggio Calabria is an Italian professional basketball club based in Reggio Calabria, Calabria. At its heyday the club was renowned for discovering talented players who would go on to play at the highest level, for example five former player ...

, during the 1998–99 season.

National team career

Welp won the gold medal at the

EuroBasket 1993 The 1993 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1993, was the 28th FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship, held by FIBA Europe. It was held in Germany between 22 June and 4 July 1993. Sixteen national teams entere ...

, as a player for the senior Germany national team. He scored the decisive last points in the tournament's final. He was voted MVP of that tournament.

Coaching career

Welp worked as an assistant

basketball coach Basketball coaching is the act of directing and strategizing the behavior of a basketball team or individual basketball player. Basketball coaching typically encompasses the improvement of individual and team offensive and defensive skills, as wel ...

for the senior Germany national team until 2006.

Personal life and death

After Welp retired from playing professional basketball in 1999, he lived in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

, with his wife, Melanie, and three children. He worked at a construction-supply business in Woodinville, for Tim Burnham, a former football player, with whom he had become friends during college. Welp died on March 1, 2015, of heart failure. He was at a vacation home on

Hood Canal Hood Canal is a fjord-like body of water that lies south of Admiralty Inlet in Washington State that some consider to be the western lobe and one of the five main basins of Puget Sound.UC Irvine Anteaters men's basketball The UC Irvine Anteaters men's basketball team is the basketball team that represents the University of California, Irvine. The team currently competes in the Big West Conference, National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA Division I (NCAA), ...

team.

References

External links

* @ databasebasketball.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Welp, Christian 1964 births 2015 deaths Alba Berlin players Basketball players at the 1984 Summer Olympics Bayer Giants Leverkusen players Centers (basketball) FIBA EuroBasket–winning players German basketball coaches German expatriate basketball people in the United States German expatriates in Greece German expatriates in Italy Golden State Warriors players Greek Basket League players NBA players from Germany German men's basketball players Olympiacos B.C. players Olympic basketball players for West Germany Sportspeople from Delmenhorst Philadelphia 76ers draft picks Philadelphia 76ers players San Antonio Spurs players Basketball players from Lower Saxony Basketball players from Seattle Viola Reggio Calabria players Washington Huskies men's basketball players 1986 FIBA World Championship players 20th-century German sportsmen