 Davis at the 1952 Olympics | ||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | January 5, 1931 Beaumont, Texas, U.S. | |||||||||||
| Died | November 17, 2020 (aged 89) Port Arthur, Texas, U.S. | |||||||||||
| Listed height | 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) | |||||||||||
| Listed weight | 205 lb (93 kg) | |||||||||||
| Career information | ||||||||||||
| High school | Nederland (Nederland, Texas) | |||||||||||
| College | Texas A&M (1949–1952) | |||||||||||
| NBA draft | 1952: 2nd round, 13th overall pick | |||||||||||
| Selected by the Philadelphia Warriors | ||||||||||||
| Playing career | 1953–1958 | |||||||||||
| Position | Power forward / center | |||||||||||
| Number | 12 | |||||||||||
| Career history | ||||||||||||
| 1953–1958 | Philadelphia Warriors | |||||||||||
| 1958 | St. Louis Hawks | |||||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
| Career statistics | ||||||||||||
| Points | 1,558 (4.8 ppg) | |||||||||||
| Rebounds | 1,397 (4.3 rpg) | |||||||||||
| Assists | 231 (0.7 apg) | |||||||||||
| Stats at NBA.com | ||||||||||||
| Stats at Basketball Reference | ||||||||||||
Medals
| ||||||||||||
Walter Francis "Buddy" Davis (January 5, 1931 – November 17, 2020) was an American athlete. After winning a gold medal in the high jump at the 1952 Olympics he became a professional basketball player.[1]
Despite contracting polio at age nine and being unable to walk for three years, Davis had a standout athletic career at Texas A&M University and later won Olympic gold in the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland, with a leap of 2.04 metres (6 ft 8+1⁄4 in).[1]
The Philadelphia Warriors selected the 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) Davis in the second round of the 1952 NBA draft. He spent five seasons with the Warriors and St. Louis Hawks, averaging 4.8 points and 4.3 rebounds per game.[2]
Davis was Inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame in 1964[3] and to the Texas Track and Field Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2016.
Davis died on November 17, 2020, in Port Arthur, Texas at age 89.[4]
- ^ a b Buddy Davis. sports-reference.com
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
bbrwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Buddy Davis Bio from the Texas Sports Hall of Fame
- ^ Murrell, I. C. (November 17, 2020). "Buddy Davis, Olympic & NBA champ from Nederland, dies at 89". The Port Arthur News. Retrieved November 18, 2020.