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Charlie Davis

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socaldeac

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I thought the below information was interesting. Did not know he was the first African American to win ACC Player of the Year. Surprised the actual ACC player of the year award is not named after him. He was before my time. Curious about what made him so special. Also three time ACC player of the year and only went in the 7th round? Why such a late pick and how come he did not play long in the NBA? I remember him at Wake when he worked on campus. Always came across as nothing but first class. Impeccable. Curious about hearing some of his playing day stories..

Charles Lawrence Davis (born September 7, 1949) is best known for being an outstanding college basketball player for Wake Forest University (WFU). From New york City, he was the second African American player in Wake Forest's history. Davis was the 1971 Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Men's Basketball Player of the Year, and the first black player to win the award.

Charlie Davis
Charlie Davis 1971.jpg
Davis in 1971
Personal information
Born
September 7, 1949 (age 70)
New York City, New York
Nationality
American
Listed height
6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Listed weight
160 lb (73 kg)
Career information
High school
Brooklyn Tech
(New York City, New York)
Laurinburg Institute
(Laurinburg, North Carolina)
College
Wake Forest (1968–1971)
NBA draft
1971 / Round: 8 / Pick: 120th overall
Selected by the Cleveland Cavaliers
Playing career
1971–1973
Position
Point guard
Number
18, 17
Career history
1971–1972
Cleveland Cavaliers
1972–1973
Portland Trail Blazers
Career highlights and awards
Fourth-team All-American – NABC (1971)
ACC Player of the Year (1971)
No. 12 retired by Wake Forest Demon Deacons
Career NBA statistics
Points
1,287 (8.9 ppg)
Rebounds
219 (1.5 rpg)
Assists
319 (2.2 apg)
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
Davis garnered first-team All-ACC honors for three years in a row, and was an eighth-round NBA draft pick (120th overall) by the Cleveland Cavaliers in 1971.
 
IMO, the greatest player to ever play at Wake not named Tim Duncan. He was an amazing shooter and scorer. Incredibly exciting.
 
His game would have translated very well to today's college game.
 
I remember when the athletic department was campaigning for him to get ACC player of the year and at the games they gave out little buttons that said, "I love CD"
 
I sat next to him in Bull Memory s class . He was always visualizing His moves throughout the day. Favorite player
 
Any idea why he was so good in college but didn’t have success in the NBA?
 
He was a tweener. He wasn't really a PG and wasn't big enough to play SG.
 
Whatever happened to CD? I kind of lost track of him after he left WF for Bowie State. Though I did once bump into him at a gas station in Petersburg, VA in those years. Nice dude.
 
Most exciting player in the history of Wake Forest basketball. Period.

Scored 41 points the first time he put on a WF uniform, in the Old Gold & Black game against the varsity. Made 64 of his first 67 free throws as a freshman.

If they had a 3-point line & played a 30-game schedule with multiple teams going to post-season play like they do now, CD would have averaged 30 PPG and scored 3,500 career points.
 
CD followed up by Skip. Those were two sweet shooting guards.
 
IMO the greatest guard ever to play for WF. Incredible scorer. Would have been amazing to see what he would have done with a three-point line. To top it off, he is a first-class individual.
 
First and foremost CD could shoot. He holds the single season and career free throw percentage record at Wake. If he was squared up and open the ball was going thru the hoop. Period. Deacon fans would chuckle in those instances at the folly of an opponent letting him get a clean shot. The only time this generally happened is when he was in deep three point territory. In those days that was considered a "bad shot" because it only counted for two points and was a lower percentage shot for most players. ACC teams knew better than to let this occur. OOC opponents learned the hard way early then would adjust. Sometimes sooner, sometimes later. This is the basis for old timers and their comments, "if there was a three point line..." Most teams had a hand on him at all times, until they did not. That was when the fun started.
 
The NBA that Charlie Davis entered was not well suited for CD's game. It was dominated by Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain and similar big guys. Bill Russell had aline that expressed this: "You may not shoot the layup. You may shoot the free throws."

As noted above, Charlie Davis did not do well in the buffet line. He was small even for that day NBA point guard. And his game was that of a 2 guard.

He was great fun to watch. He would still be my choice in a one shot for your life game.

I'd love to see Wake treat him the way that Chill has been treated.
 
I'm hoping the ACC Network does one of those 30 for 30 style documentaries about him since he was the first African American player to win ACC Player of the Year.
 
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