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James Webb
1936 - 2025
BORN
1936
DIED
2025
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James Webb Obituary
Jim was born in Williston, North Dakota, and was the eldest of the five children born to Floyd and Eldora Webb. Jim grew up in Odessa, Texas, where he played freshman and sophomore football under a young, but soon to be legendary, coach Hayden Frye. Jim was also skilled on the baseball field, and he played semi-pro baseball in Hatton, North Dakota. Jim's athletic talent resulted in him receiving a scholarship to the University of North Dakota (UND) in Grand Forks, North Dakota.
Jim served in the army for two years and was honorably discharged in 1958. He used the G.I. Bill to return to UND, where he pursued a Bachelor of Science in Physical Education. UND is where he met his future wife, Jean Ellen Jorgensen. They secretly eloped in January of 1961 so as not to lose their college housing. In the fall of 1962, Jim graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Physical Education and then a Master of Science in Kinesiology. He obtained his PhD in Growth and Development and Exercise Physiology at the University of Oregon in 1969. He then took a position at California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo (SLO) where he set up the new "Human Performance Lab" which is named after him.
Jim loved coaching, music, dancing, golf, fishing in Alaska, camping, traveling domestically and internationally, skiing, and hanging out with family. Jim spent his life serving others and lived his life with integrity. He was a naturally humble man with a tender heart.
Those left to cherish his memory include Jim's loving wife of 64 years, Jean, his children, daughter, Jill (Robert) Urmy; son, Jeff Webb; daughter, Jeri (Lars) Luther; his adored granddaughters, Skyla Luther and Raeya Webb; and his youngest brother, Mike (Lynne) Webb.
Jim was preceded in death by his parents, Floyd and Eldora Webb, brother, Gary (and Sylvia) Webb; sister, Marlyn (and Gary) Melland; and brother, Ernie (and Judi) Webb.
A memorial service and social hour will be held at 11:00 a.m. on January 10, 2026, at the United Church of Christ (Congregational), 11245 Los Osos Valley Road, San Luis Obispo, California. Remembrances of Jim are welcome at dignitymemorial.com. In lieu of flowers, please consider donating, in honor of Jim, to:
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital at: https://www.stjude.org/donate/donate-to-st-jude.html.
University of North Dakota (UND) at: https://www.givecampus.com/campaigns/53852/donations/new.
To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.
Memorial Events
for James Webb
Memories and Condolences
for James Webb
1 Entry
Roger Warnes
Earlier today
Dr. Webb was a great man of character, and one of the best teachers I ever had the privilege of having. I was lucky enough to have had Dr. Webb for many exercise physiology, kinesiology, and Physical Education classes at Cal Poly in the early 1970's, and fortunate have been his student assistant for his "conditioning" class that he taught at Cal Poly. He was a pioneer in bringing exercise physiology and running classes to the forefront at the university level, and had an amazing gift of being able to make difficult scientific concepts understandable to all of us, who had him as students.
He will be greatly missed by all of us who had the pleasure to know him.
My sincere condolences to all of the Webb Family. He made a great impact on all of our lives as his students, and he is one of the big reasons that I do what I do today, as a teacher and coach. He made us all better for knowing him.
Thank you for sharing him with all of us.
Roger Warnes
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