BY BRIAN FEESThe Sports Reports
I had a bit of a tradition anytime I’d cover a game coached by Jim Davis.
Each time I’d try and show up early, and go talk to Jim before the game. It was a chance to talk basketball with someone who knew more about the sport than just about anyone you would ever find.
The NTL lost a coaching legend recently with Davis dying, but more than that Davis was one of the sports brightest minds and one of the world’s nicest guys.
Over his coaching career at Northeast Bradford and Athens there were 737 boys’ basketball wins. He also coached baseball and coached some girls’ basketball.
He won 11 league titles at NEB and reached an Eastern final and two Eastern semifinals. He was inducted into the Northeastern Region Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame. After he retired from Northeast Bradford as a teacher he started a second basketball coaching career in Athens, and right away led the Wildcats to a district final in year one. Overall he won 16 league titles and two district titles, along with four runner-up finishes and five third-place finishes.
Davis came back to the sport not long ago to coach the NEB girls’ basketball program where one of the stars was his granddaughter.
That Davis would come back and coach his granddaughter’s team was no surprise. He loved coaching, but he loved his family more.
In boys’ basketball Davis is among the 15 winningest coaches in the states history. But, you’d never know this if you talked to Davis.
Coach Davis would ask you as many questions about basketball as you asked him. As much as he knew about the sport, he always wanted to know more.
And, the thing is, he wasn’t just asking about other teams in the league. He’d be coaching boys’ basketball and ask questions about what teams in New York were doing. He’d talk about the best girls players in the area, and what players were on the rise.
Jim Davis didn’t just coach basketball. He didn’t just coach in the NTL. He loved basketball, and he loved the league.
You would talk to him about other players in the league and he wouldn’t just talk like they were opponents. He’d talk about the improvement many of the players were making. He’d talk about how much fun it was watching them play. He genuinely loved following the sport and liked seeing student athletes shine.
But, don’t get it mixed. The nice guy you talked to before the game would become a fierce competitor once the game kicked off.
Davis loved to win. He was as competitive as it came once the game started. But, he never forgot he loved the game and the kids.
It’s hard to even explain how much I learned about basketball from Jim Davis. He would explain what certain players did so well, what made them special. He could explain in a second why certain teams did what they did on the court.
He also was the go-to-source for NTL basketball history. Not only did he coach some of the best teams in NTL history, winning an astounding 16 league titles during his coaching career, but he coached against many of the other best players and teams over the years.
He would talk about the best players, and teams, he saw over the years. He would talk about how much fun it was to watch certain players.
The thing with Davis was, he would talk about all those things, but he’d rarely talk about his own success. When he’d talk about his great teams over the years he’d talk about the players on those teams.
And, there were some great players over the years. I had an index card pinned to the board at work that had a list of the all-time leading scorers in NEB boys’ basketball history. Davis was proud of having coached so many of them. And, he was especially proud that his son was at the top of the list.
Later in his coaching career he would talk a lot about his granddaughter, Lauryn Shultz, who was one of the best shooters in the league, and learned the fundaments the right way from her grandfather.
That was Jim Davis. It was never about him. It was about family. It was about the players. And, from everything you heard from people who had him as a teacher would say, it was about his students.
He never talked about his accomplishments, but anyone that watched him catch knew how much he meant to his team’s success.
The NTL lost a legend. They lost one of the best sources of NTL basketball history. But, more than that, they lost one of the best guys you’ll ever meet.
