Heart attack takes Chuck Davis, 75
The Fayette County sports community lost a legend with the passing of Chuck Davis on June 26. Davis, 75, the former South Union basketball star had been in declining health.
So prolific were his basketball talents that he was inducted into the Fayette County Sports Hall of Fame in the inaugural class of 2009.
Davis was a player of mythic proportions during his playing days at South Union High School. He was a scoring wiz who led the Blue Devils to three section titles before he graduated in 1956. Davis tallied 1,544 points in 79 games at South Union from 1952 to 1956, an average of 19.5 points.
Former South Union teammate Rich Novak recalls Davis vividly.
“He was two years ahead of me, so I actually played with him,” said Novak, who was inducted into the Fayette County Sports Hall of Fame in 2010. “I was a sophomore and he was a senior and we were the starting guards. He was ahead of his time, to be 5-8 or 5-9 and to score those points, he was unbelievable. He would come down the court and throw behind-the-back passes, he would do things that were just totally unorthodox to what the rest of us could do.”
Davis took his talents to Westminster College after graduating from South Union in 1956 and proceeded to write a great chapter in Titan basketball history.
Davis played at Westminster from 1956-60. He was a NAIA All-American in 1960. He scored 1,408 career points, which was the third most in school history when he graduated and currently ranks eighth.
The highlights, of course, were the trips to Kansas City for the NAIA Tournament. Davis led the Titans to NAIA Tournament berths in 1959 and 1960 with records of 19-8 and 24-3. The 1960 Cinderella Titans won four NAIA Tournament games, including a 39-38 upset of three-time defending champion Tennessee A&I, a team that had won 18 straight tournament games.
“They were so stunned they wouldn’t leave the court,” Davis recalled of Westminster’s biggest upset in school history. “They just sat there.”
Westminster wound up losing, 66-44, to Southwest Texas State in the national championship game and Davis captured the NAIA “Charles Stevenson Hustle Award.”
Davis was a legend on the playgrounds in Uniontown according to Fayette County Sports Hall of Famer Don Yates.
“He could dribble and at that particular time all guys could usually do was jump shoot and jump,” said Yates, who starred at Uniontown. “He was a great dribbler and he definitely was ahead of his time with his game. We likened him to Marcus Haynes of the Harlem Globetrotters. His athletic abilities were off the charts.
“Chuck’s favorite saying was always believe, he said believe and go out and prove your point. He was an avid fan of believing in one’s self.”
Davis came from a very athletic family — his older brother Willie was a fine basketball player. His nephew was Ernie Davis, the late Heisman Trophy winner from Syracuse.
Fayette County Sports Hall of Fame inductee Buddy Quertinmont from Point Marion and Albert Gallatin has fond memories of Davis.
“I remember Davis as a high school player,” Quertinmont recalled. “I never got to see him play in college, but I can remember my dad telling me that we’re going to the basketball game at Point Marion and he put on a show, he was a great player.”
Davis eventually got the opportunity to tour with the Harlem Globetrotters for a year after college. But after he injured his knee while playing in Brazil, Davis moved on with his life after basketball. He worked for the New York City Children’s Administration. He started as a caseworker and was promoted to the director of the childcare agency. He resided in Brooklyn, N.Y., and retired after 34 years in 1995.
Davis suffered with kidney problems according to his sister, Angeline McLee, and suffered a stroke this year and was in a rehabilitation facility when he suffered a heart attack. He was taken to the hospital and stabilized, but suffered a second heart attack on Thursday, June 26, which took his life.
He is survived by three grown children and four grandchildren, his wife Vera passed away in 2008.
Davis was also a member of the Westminster Titan Sports Hall of Fame.
“He was revered,” Novak stated. “When people talk about people of my era and his era, when you talk about athletes and you mention his name you would use the term in awe. He was respected and his was very well liked. He was one of a kind.”