Davis signed with Wisconsin for football earlier this month and will go down as one of the greatest athletes in Springfield's history — just ask Larry Ham.
Ham, a Springfield assistant, was the coach at South from 1993 to 2006 and at Trotwood from 2006 to 2008.
“My first year of coaching at South, I had two juniors on my team, one by the name of Chris Wallace, the other Dee Miller,” Ham said before a game against Beavercreek on Jan. 31. “… I was at North for a while in the 70s, so I saw a lot of the great players from (Springfield) from both sides, guys like Todd Jones, Randy Ayers and Freddy Carson.
“You don’t find many guys you can compare to guys like that, but Danny is one of them.”
Ham has also run into something else in his coaching career from players as well: ego. But what Ham said he’ll most remember about Davis is his humbleness.
“He’s very, very unselfish,” Ham said. “When you’ve got a kid that’s unselfish and the kids that play with him realize that, they’re not afraid to share the ball with that kid even more. You throw in his durability and athleticism, and you’ve got a star. And for him to be humble and unselfish really says a lot to the kind of person he is.”
Davis scored two 3-pointers in the first two minutes Friday, but after Trotwood made a defensive adjustment that included double-teaming him every time he had the ball, he scored four more points the rest of the game.
The Rams, who are ranked third in the state in Division II, pulled ahead for good in the final minute of the third and put the game away late in the fourth.
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The game was far from Springfield’s first tough loss in Davis’ career — a second-round tournament loss to Tecumseh 2014 still bothers him — but he credits his family for helping him to forget losses and focus on the next game.
Among the many family members he credits are mother Michelle Brumfield, stepfather and Springfield assistant Paul Brumfield, father Danny Davis II and uncle Jefferson Davis, who has made widely-viewed highlight videos for both football and basketball.
“If there’s a bad game, they pick you up, and if it’s a good game they’re always with you,” Davis said. “I know a lot of people don’t really have that, and I’m blessed to have that, and I thank God for that.”
Davis said what he’ll remember most about his time at Springfield is the fun he had with teammates.
“Just coming out here, having fun and competing with my brothers is all I could ask for,” Davis said. “Everything else comes together because of that.”
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