Winston Arnel Crite (born June 20, 1965) is a retired American 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 (appr ...
player who currently trains young players. After a very successful career at
Texas A&M University
Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...
, Crite was selected with 53rd overall (7th in third round) pick in the
1987 NBA draft by the
Phoenix Suns
The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Suns are the only team in t ...
and spent two following seasons in the
NBA
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...
playing for Suns. Afterwards he played professionally in Europe. At 6'7" (2.00 m) and 233 lb (106 kg), he played
power forward
The power forward (PF), also known as the four, is one of the five traditional Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. Traditionally, power forwards have played a role similar to center (basketball), centers. When on Of ...
.
Early years
Winston Crite was born and raised in
Bakersfield, California
Bakersfield is a city in Kern County, California, United States. It is the county seat and largest city of Kern County. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's populat ...
. He attended South High School Bakersfield, where, as a sophomore, he led his team to the San Joaquin Valley Championship. In his senior year, Crite was voted by the ''Bakersfield Californian'' as the All Area Player of the Year, and was later named to the All Northern California all-star team.
Texas A&M University (1983–1987)
Crite chose to attend
Texas A&M University
Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...
and play basketball under coach
Shelby Metcalf
Shelby Metcalf (December 23, 1930 – February 8, 2007) was the head coach of the Texas A&M Aggies men's basketball team for 27 seasons, from 1963 to 1990. He won more games than any other coach in the former Southwest Conference. Achieving success ...
. In his very first game, against Texas Lutheran in 1983–1984, Crite became the first freshman in Aggie history to post a double-double (in this case, 24 points, 15 rebounds) in his first game. Only one other Aggie freshman,
Joseph Jones, has duplicated that feat.
Crite started 118 of the 123
games of his career, and showed steady improvement throughout his four years. His freshman year (1983–1984), Crite averaged 8.9 points, 6.1 rebounds, 1.2 assists, and .9 blocks per game and completed 53% of his field goal attempts. The following year, he averaged 12.1 points per game, 8.2 rebounds, 1.2 assists, and 2.2 blocks, completing 56.7 percent of his field goals. In the 1985–1986 season, Crite completed an impressive 58.0% of his field goals, averaging 13.3 points, 8 rebounds, 1.6 assists, and 1.3 blocks per game. By his senior season he was averaging 16.8 points, 2.0 blocks, 7.4 rebounds, and 1.3 assists per game, completing 56.1% of his field goals.
For his accomplishments, Crite was a four-time "All Southwest West Conference" choice and was named "All Tournament" for three straight years.
Just as Crite appeared to be at the top of his game in his senior year, the team began struggling, losing nine of their last eleven games to finish the regular season 14–13. The Aggies were seeded eighth in the
Southwest Conference
The Southwest Conference (SWC) was an NCAA Division I college athletic conference in the United States that existed from 1914 to 1996. Composed primarily of schools from Texas, at various times the conference included schools from Oklahoma an ...
, meaning they would open the conference tournament facing the top-seeded
TCU Horned Frogs, who were ranked 15th nationally. After Crite scored thirty points in a stunning upset of TCU, the team defeated the defending tournament champion,
Texas Tech
Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sys ...
before beating number two seed
Baylor in the tournament championship game,
where Crite was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player.
Winning the tournament gave the Aggies an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament,
their last NCAA tournament appearance until 2006.
Crite holds the Aggie record as the all-time leading shot blocker (200). He is second on the school's list of leading rebounders (913) and for field goal percentage (.562). He has attempted the third-most number of free throws, with 518 attempts, and is the fourth leading Scorer in school history.
Crite was inducted into the Texas A&M Hall of Fame in September 2009.
Professional basketball
Crite was selected by the
Phoenix Suns
The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Suns are the only team in t ...
with the seventh pick in the third round of the
1987 NBA Draft.
In his first season, 1987–1988, Crite scored 87 points in his 29 games, averaging 3.0 points per game with 2.2 rebounds and 0.5 assists per game. The following season, he played for a total of only 6 minutes in two games, and made only one rebound,
before being placed on the injured list in January 1988.
Crite played the 1989 season in Australia's
NBL, with the
Brisbane Bullets
The Brisbane Bullets are an Australian professional men's basketball team in the National Basketball League (Australia), National Basketball League (NBL) based in Brisbane, Brisbane, Queensland. They competed from 1979 to 2008, and returned to th ...
. He made the Northern All-Stars team for the
Australian NBL All-Star Game played at the
"Glasshouse" in Melbourne, and played a significant second half in a narrow two-point loss to the South. Crite averaged 20.8 points on 57% shooting from the field, and 7.5 rebounds per game. After some questionable management decisions during the year, Winston left the Bullets in the 1990 season. He then spent several years playing professional basketball in Europe, earning All-League honors in Spain and France. Crite was named the
Most Valuable Foreign Player
Most or Möst or ''variation'', may refer to:
Places
* Most, Kardzhali Province, a village in Bulgaria
* Most (city), a city in the Czech Republic
** Most District, a district surrounding the city
** Most Basin, a lowland named after the city
** A ...
of the
French 2nd Division, while playing with
ASA Sceaux
The LNB Pro B, commonly known as Pro B, is the 2nd-tier level men's professional basketball league in France. It is the second division of the Ligue Nationale de Basket (LNB), which has organized the league since the year 1987. The regular season ...
in 1993 (
Pro-B League). He also led that team to a French 2nd Division championship that year. After that season, he was also named to The Buckler all Europe Team.
http://www.nblstats.com/players.php?playerid=10248&hyear=2003-04
Retirement
After Crite's retirement from professional basketball, he returned to his hometown of Bakersfield. He was soon approached by parents of local student-athletes to mentor and train their children.
In 2002, Crite and his wife Mechelle formed The Footwork Shop, Inc, a basketball training club.
Instead of offering more traditional league-type play, Crite's company offers year-round skill training, focusing especially on advanced footwork, without playing actual basketball games.
As of April 11, 2016 he is the School Community Specialist and Varsity Boys’ Basketball Coach at Frontier High School also located in Bakersfield.
References
External links
NBA statistics@ basketballreference.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crite, Winston
1965 births
Living people
African-American basketball players
American expatriate basketball people in Argentina
American expatriate basketball people in Australia
American expatriate basketball people in France
American expatriate basketball people in Spain
American expatriate basketball people in the Philippines
Basketball players from Bakersfield, California
Brisbane Bullets players
Cholet Basket players
Grand Rapids Hoops players
Liga ACB players
Montpellier Paillade Basket players
Philippine Basketball Association imports
Phoenix Suns draft picks
Phoenix Suns players
Power forwards (basketball)
Magnolia Hotshots players
Texas A&M Aggies men's basketball players
American men's basketball players
Great Taste Coffee Makers players
Alaska Aces (PBA) players
21st-century African-American people
20th-century African-American sportspeople