A.W. Davis, former Tennessee All-America basketball player passes away at age 71.
photo by Tennessee Athletics
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee men's basketball All-American guard A.W. Davis passed away Tuesday at the age of 71 at UT Medical Center.
Funeral arrangements are pending and will be handled by Smith-Reagan Funeral Home in Rutledge, Tenn.
UTsports.com will be updated with details.
Davis, who played for the Vols from 1962-65, earned 1965 first-team All-America honors as a senior and was a two-time first-team All-SEC selection his last two years on Rocky Top.
Nicknamed "The Rutledge Rifle" and "The Man with the Golden Arm," Davis captained the Vols to a 20-5 record and a second-place finish in the SEC as a senior and was named team MVP.
Davis ushered in the Ray Mears coaching era on Rocky Top in a significant way. Mears arrived on campus after Davis' freshman year, and in the three years that followed, Davis played in 71 games and scored 1,225 points, which ranked third in UT history at the time. He also averaged 8.1 rebounds per game in his career.
In those days, freshmen did not play on the varsity squad.
Tennessee historian Haywood Harris wrote about Davis in 1983, "The Tennessee captain moved so gracefully and did things so effortlessly that often one needed to look at the box score to realize his field goals, free throws and rebounds reached spectacular figures."
He was drafted by Los Angeles in the fifth round of the NBA Draft. After his playing days, he returned to Tennessee and spent six seasons as an assistant coach on Mears' staff. He played a role in the Vols' run to the 1972 SEC championship.
He continued his coaching career at Walters State and was named the Tennessee Junior College Coach of the Year after his first season there in 1975-76.
Davis maintained his ties with the Tennessee program after wrapping up his coaching career and entering the private business sector. He joined John Ward on the Tennessee basketball broadcasts as an analyst from 1979 to 1982.
He entered the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame in 1984 and the Knoxville Sports Hall of Fame in 1988. Davis also was a member of the Tennessee Basketball All-Century Team.
(E-mail Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com) and follow him on Twitter @larryfleming44)