James Jefferson Webster III (born 1966), also known as Jeff Webster, is an American competitive checkers player and musician. Webster was the National Youth Checkers Champion in 1981 and the World Youth Checkers Champion in 1982.

Early life and family

Jeff Webster was born in 1966 to James Jefferson Webster II and Mary Elizabeth Comer. He grew up in Stoneville, North Carolina and graduated from Stoneville High School in 1983. He is a grandson of

James Jefferson Webster James Jefferson Webster Sr. (September 27, 1898 – May 24, 1965) was an American businessman, farmer, and politician. He owned a dairy and tobacco farm, tobacco warehouses, a general store, and co-ran a car dealership in Rockingham County, Nort ...

, who served as county commissioner of Rockingham County. Through his paternal grandmother, Nannie Hurt Strong, he is descended from

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

emigrants George Irving and Jane McDonald, who came to the United States in 1834 from Closeburn, Dumfriesshire aboard the '' Hector'', and is a descendant of the Colonial Virginian Robertson family. Webster is the nephew of checkers champion

John Ray Webster John Ray Webster (born March 31, 1942) is an American competitive English draughts, checkers player, veterinarian, farmer, retired military officer, and musician. A national checkers champion and grandmaster, Webster won the United States Blitz GA ...

and a distant cousin of mathematician

Ione Grogan Ione Holt Grogan (March 4, 1891 – February 5, 1961) was an American academic, mathematician, and educator. She worked as a schoolteacher in North Carolina and Georgia for twenty-two years before joining the faculty at the Woman's College of the ...

Career

Checkers

Webster began playing checkers at his grandfather's general store when he was 14 years old, being taught largely by his uncle. He won the United States youth national checkers championship in Texas in 1980. On December 31, 1981 he competed in the World Youth Checkers Championship in Bristol, England. He defeated Andrew Knapp, the English national champion, and became the first person to win the title of World Youth Checkers Champion. In 2015 he placed second in the Tennessee State Open Majors Division in

Lebanon, Tennessee Lebanon is the county seat of Wilson County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 38,431 at the 2020 census. Lebanon is located in Middle Tennessee, approximately east of downtown Nashville. Lebanon is part of the Nashville Metropolit ...

. In 2019 Webster was ranked 47th in the nation and 103rd in the world.

Music

Webster began playing piano when he was 14 years old. He was formerly a member of the bands Outta Time and Disaster Recovery Band. He is currently the keyboardist for The Impacts, a

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

and beach music band based in Madison, North Carolina. Webster serves as a member of the 2019-2020 Advisory Grassroots Panel for the Rockingham County Arts Council.

Personal life

On March 20, 1998, Webster was working at the Rockingham County Post Office in Stoneville when the 1998 Gainesville–Stoneville tornado outbreak hit. His cousin, Beth Webster Mitchell, was killed in the tornado. Webster married Annie Herger Manning in 2008. In 2009 he underwent a quadruple bypass at

Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital The Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital, also known as Moses Cone Hospital, is a 517-bed tertiary care facility located in Greensboro, North Carolina. The hospital opened in 1953 on North Elm Street as a 310-bed community hospital. Moses Cone Hospit ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Webster, Jeff Living people 1966 births American checkers players American people of Scottish descent American United Methodists Jeff Musicians from North Carolina People from Rockingham County, North Carolina Players of English draughts