A Defining Force

Alumni Profile

At 10 years old, James “Mick” Webster, A&S ’59, discovered a love of lacrosse—and Johns Hopkins. Growing up near the Homewood campus in Bolton Hill, Mick idolized his neighbor, Joe Sollers, A&S ’51, an All-American goalie for the Blue Jays who gave Mick his first lacrosse stick. “I went to watch him play all the time,” Mick says. “I used to back up the goal. Wherever he was, I was there. ”

Eight years later, Mick was living his childhood dream. He accepted a full academic scholarship to Johns Hopkins and became part of an all-star freshman team. Soon, he was no longer a kid watching from the sidelines, but an All-American player himself, making things happen on the field and on campus. At Homewood, Mick was not only the co-captain of the ’59 lacrosse team, but also president of his fraternity and a member of the student council and honor commission.

Mick continues to make things happen for Johns Hopkins. He and his wife, Nancy, have set up a bequest benefiting the Zanvyl Krieger School of Arts and Sciences in honor of his 50th reunion, in addition to pledging funds to be used immediately to support undergraduate education at the school.

“I have made a five-year pledge to give something for Hopkins to use now,” Mick says, “along with my bequest, which will be there for Hopkins later.”

Mick credits his time at Johns Hopkins—his relationships with classmates, interactions with faculty and staff, and leadership roles on campus—as a defining force in his life. “My classes were great, but it was the people and the interactions that made Hopkins special to me,” says Mick, who parlayed his undergraduate leadership experience into a successful career in financial planning and life insurance. He married his college sweetheart, raised four children, and is now a grandfather of nine.

Today, the kid from Bolton Hill, the All-American Blue Jays co-captain, and the successful family man is still backing up the goal for Johns Hopkins. “I’ve always tried to be a do-er,” Mick says. “It was important to me to ‘pay back’ my scholarship, and I have been fortunate enough to be able to do that, and more. It feels really good.”