Coach Jeff Davis retires after five decades as a Lion
(This story originally published May 26, 2016. Jeff Davis Field was dedicated at Ed Bryant Stadium Friday night.)
By Shane Scoggins
Publisher
Jeff Davis peered through the fence at baseball players as they spread out to prepare for a game.
He had just received a plaque of appreciation from the Franklin County Lions baseball program, and though the players had just surrounded him for handshakes and hugs on the field, several waved and spoke to him.
“Hey, Big Guy!” Davis called back.
“I don’t know how it can get any better than these kids around here,” Davis said. “I don’t know why you’d go anywhere else.”
It’s that love of his hometown and its young people that has kept him in Franklin County and a vital part of its school system and athletic program.
Davis will retire at the end of the month after 34 years of service as coach, teacher and athletic director.
If his time as a school-boy athlete is factored in, then Davis has been associated with Franklin County sports for most of the last five decades.
What is clear is that his career, life and example have left a legacy that has touched the lives of many in the Franklin County community.
“Culture flows from the top down,” Assistant FCHS Tennis Coach Chris Chitwood said recently in a tribute at the team’s annual banquet. “What we enjoy as a community and a team has come a lot from this man right here.”
A school boy standout
In a scrapbook of his school days, there’s a photo of Davis sitting at a desk with crutches standing beside him in a trash can.
“Innocent looking Jeff with his dirty old crutches,” the caption reads.
It was published in the Nov. 21, 1972, issue of the school paper, Lion Tale.
Davis was being honored as student of the month. The article reads in part, “Jeff does well in all sports he participates in, but he states his favorite sports as ‘football and baseball but I also enjoy playing basketball.’”
If there was a football or baseball team on the field in his youth, then Davis was an integral part of it.
A native of Lavonia, Davis played football at Lavonia Elementary School – in those days there was no middle school or junior high – for Coach Travis Moon.
In his eighth grade year, he not only played on the Lavonia varsity but covered the games for The Lavonia Times, along with classmate Bill Teat.
Davis made his mark at Franklin County High School as a star athlete, playing football and baseball.
His impact in football came early.
Davis was on an undefeated FCHS B team and saw regular time as a sophomore before sterling junior and senior seasons.
He played mostly quarterback and defense for the football Lions, but also did whatever it took to help his team.
As a placekicker in his junior year, he made the first field goal in school history and was nearly automatic on point-after kicks.
In his senior year of 1973-74, he helped the Lions beat Hart County for the first time since 1970.
Davis moved to halfback for part of that season in an attempt to jumpstart the Lions’ wishbone rushing attack. He also tied his own school record with a 39-yard field goal.
In his final game in a Lion uniform, Davis ran for 61 yards – good for third on the team – in a 23-12 win over White County and added a field goal and two point-after kicks.
Davis was named All-Area first team in both his junior and senior years and was named Most Valuable Offensive Back of the team in his junior season.
He was a standout in baseball for Coach J.B. Bearden, one of the most successful and versatile coaches in Franklin County history.
In the spring of his senior year, Davis hit .469 for a baseball team that made it to the Region 8AA championship against Gainesville. The Lions lost 8-3.
Davis also lettered in track while in high school and served as president of the FFA and student council and worked on the school paper and pep club. He was named to “Who’s Who in American High School Students.”
After high school, Davis moved on to Wofford College and earned a football scholarship.
He first tried out at quarterback.
“I found out right quick I wasn’t a college quarterback,” Davis said.
He ended up at linebacker and got into his sixth game as a freshman and became a fixture.
By the time he left Wofford, Davis had made quite an impact.
Davis was a four-year letterman and was named the team’s Most Valuable Player and captain in 1977, his senior season. He was also named to the NAIA All-District and All-American teams that season.
The team compiled a 25-17-1 during his years on the team.
In 1983, Davis was named to Wofford’s all-time team.
“God just looked after me,” Davis said.
Davis graduated with a degree in sociology. (He would later get a degree in physical education from the University of Georgia and one in administration from Lincoln Memorial University.)
Earning trust as a young coach
Looking back on being hired as athletic director and head football and baseball coach at Franklin County High School at the ripe age of 25, Davis says today, “I thought I knew everything and I knew nothing.”
But he knew enough then to see not only the opportunity but the perils.
“The biggest pressure of all will be if things don’t go well and everyone says it’s because I’m young,” Davis told The NEWS Leader in April 1982. “I think we can win. I wouldn’t go into a situation where I didn’t think we could win. A lot of people think I’m crazy to leave Hart County because the program is solid and everything is winning, but I think Franklin County can win and I want to help it win.”
When Davis was hired to lead his alma mater, he had a grand total of four years experience, with just three at the high school level.
Out of Wofford, Davis took a job coaching at South Madison Middle School in Madison County.
After one year, he joined the coaching staff of Don Elam at Hart County High School.
Davis coached under Elam for two seasons and Bill McCullough for one.
The Hart County Bulldogs defeated Franklin County 29-14, 54-14 and 21-14 in those seasons. Hart was 18-12-1 with Davis as an assistant, including a trip to the region playoffs.
When then-Franklin County High School Principal Raymond Akridge announced Davis’ hiring, he said the new coach was “the kind of young man who is going places, and we hope he can take Franklin County with him.”
Davis accepted the job because he said he wanted to make a difference “in the community, the school system and the kids.”
Davis said he was helped by having good coaches and good players in his first years at the helm.
The coaches included Bruce Knighton and and George Davis.
Knighton had been a head coach at Oconee County. He also coached girls basketball.
He went on to make his own mark on Franklin County. The annual Business of the Year Award given by the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce is named for him.
George Davis was the offensive coordinator and had 34 years of experience at the time.
One of the players on that first team was Tony Jones, who went on to play offensive line for two Super Bowl champion Denver Broncos teams.
Another was Rusty Beasley, who played defensive back for the University of Georgia.
In Davis’ first game as coach, the Lions defeated North Hall 47-12 and had 500 yards rushing.
The team was led by Clint Harper’s 166 yards on 25 carries. David Mayfield and Ernest Moncrief also ran for more than 100 yards in the game.
Davis ran a conservative offense – very conservative. The Lions didn’t attempt a pass until the third game of that first season, he said.
That third game was special. Wanda Davis said her husband still points to it all these years later as a career highlight.
That first pass was a big reason why.
The opponent was Commerce, a defending state champion and a team that the Lions had never defeated.
Sophomore quarterback Beasley ran for 197 yards and three touchdowns. His one pass – the team’s first of the season – was tipped but caught by Tim Vickery for a 78-yard touchdown.
After the game, Davis said, “This is going to mean a lot for our program.”
In addition to the win over Commerce, Franklin defeated Hart County 13-6 and Elbert County 13-12.
The team started the season 3-0-1 and finished with a 5-4-1 record, a significant improvement over the previous season’s 3-7 record.
It was the team’s best record since 1975.
After going 6-4 in his second year, Davis interviewed for an assistant coach’s job at Western Carolina University.
“For some reason, this is where I wanted to stay,” he said. “This was home. It doesn’t matter where I go or what I do, I’m going to bleed kelly green.”
Building a gridiron legacy
Franklin County has had plenty of coaches with ability who have made their mark on the school.
Zack Faust helped establish the program in the mid-1960s. James Davis posted two winning seasons out of four. Travis Moon showed the Lions they could win consistently with three straight non-losing seasons. Max Dowis was a legendary coach in Northeast Georgia before coming to Franklin County.
But Jeff Davis rewrote the history books.
Over his 19 seasons as football coach, the Lions were consistent with flashes of brilliance.
Davis’ Lions posted 10 winning records and finished 5-5 three other times. The team made the postseason nine times.
To fully appreciate that record, it has to be looked at in perspective with the rest of school history.
In the 18 seasons before Davis and the 15 seasons since he stepped down as head coach, the football program has had seven winning seasons, four 5-5 finishes and five postseason berths combined.
Davis’ teams won the only two region championships in football.
His 108-96-1 coaching record is by far the best in school history.
The coach was a man focused on details. He demanded his players run off the field. They wore ties and khakis to road games.
Wanda Davis said those tactics were meant to teach the players to care about themselves and how they carry themselves around others.
Her husband worked hard to inspire his teams, she said. He was constantly on the lookout for and doing research to find inspirational quotes and stories.
He also had speakers come to impart life lessons to his team.
As a result, “they played with heart,” she said. “Other coaches would say, ‘I don’t know how y’all win.’”
Davis said he fully appreciates the effort his players gave.
“We might not execute good. We may make all kinds of mistakes,” Davis said. “We never played when we didn’t give effort. These kids played hard. That’s what I appreciate most about them.”
Davis said his way of coaching was influenced by three mentors – former Franklin County football coach Travis Moon, former basketball and baseball coach J.B. Bearden and Western Carolina University defensive backs coach Mike Bugar.
“You learn something different from all of them,” he said.
Davis played baseball for Bearden, who was one of the most successful coaches in Franklin County history. Bearden won region titles in both girls basketball and baseball and took teams from both sports deep into the state playoffs.
Bugar was Davis’ position coach in college.
Davis played for Moon at Lavonia Elementary and as a senior at FCHS.
Moon taught him “the value of investing in young people.
“These kids know when you’ve got their best interest at heart,” Davis said. “You’re not going to fool them.”
That philosophy was taken seriously by the coach.
His daughter MeriBeth McNeilll said she remembers Thursday night suppers with senior members of the team, sharing her home with players who needed a roof over their heads and her dad getting up in the middle of the night because a player needed him.
“You always grew up with the football team,” she said. “Dad treated them like they were his kids too.”
Daughter JoAnna Davis said her dad would give players suits and ties to wear or would buy them for players who didn’t have them.
“I have 50-something brothers and one sister,” JoAnna remembers telling her teachers. “That football team was our family.”
Davis, with family in tow, attended special church events if his players were involved and picked up and took players home from games and practices.
He was always available, even in the middle of the night, if a player needed him, JoAnna said.
Davis also counseled players and parents through the years, MeriBeth said.
“Dad didn’t talk about football near as much as he talked about life with the kids,” she said.
Winning was important but wasn’t talked about.
“He just kind of inspired you to be your best,” she said.
Success, struggles and affirmation
The story goes that Tony Jones walked into Davis’ office in one of the coach’s first two seasons.
The 6’5” Jones was intent on turning in his football uniform and equipment and concentrating on basketball.
Davis refused to accept Jones’ equipment and told the Royston native that football was his future.
Jones ended up being one of the most famous football players to ever come out of Franklin County.
Davis coached the three most well-known Lion alums Jones, quarterback Dee Dowis and Gary Walker.
After graduating from FCHS, Jones went on to letter at Western Carolina from 1984-87.
He played 13 seasons in the NFL, with the Cleveland Browns, Baltimore Ravens and Denver Broncos, where he won two Super Bowl championships.
Jones was a workhorse in his career, playing and starting every game in nine of the last 11 years of his career.
During a recent visit to FCHS, Jones credited Davis with “showing me the way when sometimes you get lost.”
Walker went to a junior college after graduating from Franklin County and then transferred to Auburn, where he played on Terry Bowden’s undefeated team in 1993.
Walker played 11 years in the NFL for Houston (Oilers and Texans), Tennessee and Jacksonville. He made the Pro Bowl in 2001 and 2002 and had 46.5 career sacks as a defensive lineman.
Dowis led the Lions to the school’s first playoff appearance in 1985, his senior season.
Franklin County opened that year with an 8-1 record – including wins over Stephens County, Hart County and Elbert County – before losing to Winder-Barrow 27-0 in the last game of the regular season.
In the region semifinal, Monroe Area pulled out a 14-13 win with a fourth-quarter touchdown to end the season.
Dowis went on to the Air Force Academy and set school records. He was a finalist for the 1989 Heisman Trophy, finishing sixth in the voting that season.
The Lions struggled after Dowis and his class graduated.
Franklin County had back-to-back 3-7 seasons in 1986 and 1987, went 5-5 in 1988 and 4-6 in 1989.
The day before the final game in that 1989 season, 19 members of the community wrote a letter to the school board asking that Davis and his staff be replaced.
“Due to the past records and present status of the football program, we feel it is time for a change,” the group’s letter read. “With the talent that is available, and has been available to our program, and still have a losing effort, we feel a change is necessary.”
It was reported that someone went so far as to contact Larry Campbell at Lincoln County to see if he was interested in the job.
Supporters of Davis immediately came out in his defense.
Three members of the school board expressed support.
The News Leader pointed out that Davis only had four assistant coaches and remarked on his “exemplary” character and values that he instilled in players.
Letters to the editor lauded his integrity.
At the next school board meeting, supporters of the coach packed the meeting room.
Speakers included Helen Brown, Dowis’ mother, who reported her son said firing Davis would be the worst mistake the county could make.
Then-player Charlie Hall read a letter in which he said Davis’ instruction and compliments helped him as a young boy at football camps feel pride and self-respect.
“Coach Davis gives every single player the respect and support that he needs,” Hall wrote. “He doesn’t cuss us, he encourages us. In turn, we players develop a sense of worth and dignity. Not only do we realize that we are part of something special, but we realize that every individual counts.”
Davis was rehired. His team was 5-5 in 1990.
Following the 1990 season, Davis got support from the community and from the school board.
Marvin Smith, then-chairman of the school board, said, “I like the way Jeff coaches football and, more importantly, I like what he stands for.”
Davis told the Franklin County Citizen at the time that he had weighed his options. Other area schools were interested in him, the newspaper reported.
“When I sat down and looked at my community, my church and the faculty and coaches I have the opportunity to work with here, I realized that I would be giving up a lot,” he told the paper.
Playing against the best
On Nov. 22, 1991, the Franklin County Lions football team got off the bus in Cartersville.
The Lions had travelled more than two hours and 110 miles to face the No. 3-ranked Cartersville Purple Hurricanes.
“Upon entering the field, our team was greatly motivated by your cheers, your colors of green and white and your ovation of our efforts,” Davis wrote in a letter to the editor the following week. “The yells from our cheerleaders, the music from our band, the banners from local businesses, the letters from elementary schools and the cooperation of school officials all combined to contribute to a successful season.”
The Lions used that motivation to put a scare into Cartersville, in what turned out to be an announcement of the Lions as a dangerous playoff opponent in the 1990s.
Davis’ Lions went 7-3 in the regular season in 1991, with its three losses by a total of seven points.
The team opened the year with a 14-10 loss to Madison County and a 27-26 loss to archrival Hart County.
Franklin then won five in a row, including games over Stephens County and Gainesville.
That streak was snapped as the Lions travelled to Lovett and lost 16-15. Lovett’s game-winning drive was kept alive when Franklin County was flagged for having 12 men on the field, though game films showed that the Lions only had 11.
After dispatching Rabun County the next week, the Lions dropped a tough game to East Hall 31-30 in Carnesville.
The regular season ended with five teams tied for the Region 8AA title, giving Franklin County its first region championship.
Tiebreaker rules left the seeding for the playoffs to a vote of coaches.
Franklin County got the No. 2 seed and hosted East Hall the following week for a rematch in the region playoff.
This time, the Lions won 22-20.
That sent the Lions on the road in their first trip to the state playoffs. They faced No. 3-ranked Cartersville.
The game was basically a draw that Cartersville survived by a 19-17 score. The turning point of the game was the final play of the first half, when a 57-yard Lion field goal fell just short of being good.
Cartersville went on to win the state championship that season.
Davis and the Lions used the season to spring-board into 1992, the greatest football season in school history.
After opening the season 0-3 with losses to Stephens County (23-6), Hart County (43-22) and Hancock Central (40-28), the Lions got on a roll of nine consecutive victories.
During the Lions’ roll, Franklin County defeated its opponents by an average score of 30-9.
With it came a Region 8AA East championship and a 35-7 win in the region playoff over Gainesville for the school’s second region title.
That victory over the Red Elephants was significant. It was the final game for legendary Gainesville Coach Bobby Gruhn, who posted a 254-104-5 career record.
The Lions opened the state playoffs with a 31-6 victory over Cedar Grove and then hosted undefeated Washington County.
The Golden Hawks, who were on their way to being one of the dominant teams of the 1990s, had five Division I players on the team got out to a 14-0 halftime lead and held on to win 21-14.
“This senior class is special because they are the first ones to go through all levels and not have a losing season,” Davis said after the season.
The Lions missed the playoffs the next season, but then went to the postseason three straight years from 1994-96.
In 1994, the Lions went 6-4 in the regular season and defeated East Hall on the road 21-18 in the region playoffs.
In the first round of the state playoffs, Franklin travelled to former region opponent and private-school powerhouse Lovett and lost 17-6. Lovett made it to the state semifinals that season.
The Lions had an even better regular season in 1995, going 8-2, with a win over Stephens County.
Franklin made it to the region playoffs, but lost 15-12 to Fannin County in Blue Ridge to end the season.
Franklin County was back in the second round in 1996 after a 7-3 regular season.
The Lions had to travel to Carrollton for the game and lost a close 28-21 contest to the Trojans, who went on to the state semifinals.
Davis’ teams made the playoffs two more times, in his final two seasons in 1999 and 2000, each time running into Carrollton.
In 1999, the Lions were 7-3 and once again had to travel to Carrollton in the first round, losing another close game 34-28.
A year later, Franklin was 6-4 and defeated Forsyth Central 14-13 on the road in the first round of the playoffs.
In the second round, yet another trip to Carrollton ended in a 10-7 loss.
Walking away
By the end of the 2000 season, Davis was 44 years old and had a coaching record of 108-96-1 in 19 seasons at Franklin County.
More than half of those wins – 66 in all – had come in the last 10 seasons, along with two region titles, eight trips to the playoffs and five seasons in which his team advanced past the first game of the playoffs.
Observing from the outside, Davis was hitting his stride as a coach, with many more productive years ahead.
Instead, he walked away.
At the time, Davis said he didn’t think he could take the program to the next level and wanted to have more time with daughters MeriBeth and JoAnna.
Until then, time with the girls had been limited, but always focused for Davis and his daughters.
He spent a lot of time with the team and at the school, both daughters remember, but included them whenever possible.
MeriBeth remembers watching film with him. JoAnna was the football team’s watergirl and, as the tomboy of the family, told her dad she wanted to play football.
JoAnna said Davis would get home just in time to tuck them in and say their prayers with them. And he regularly brought the girls Frosties from Wendy’s as a late-night snack.
“A man gets one chance to raise his kids,” Davis said in announcing his football coaching retirement. “There are second chances for a lot of things, but not that. I want to enjoy my children. They’re what brings happiness to my life.”
Wanda Davis said her husband also didn’t want MeriBeth or JoAnna, who were both cheerleaders for FCHS, to hear fans criticize him from the stands.
MeriBeth said it was bittersweet because she had always looked forward to cheering on her father’s team.
“But we knew we would get to see him a lot more,” she said.
Davis said at the time that he may get back into coaching football at some point.
He had an opportunity to go to Flowery Branch High School one year after he walked away from the Lions’ sidelines, but didn’t take the job because he would have had to move.
“I’ve just always had a passion for Franklin County,” he said.
Wanda Davis said she and her daughters encouraged him to take the job. Davis actually accepted the position but then called back to decline it, she said.
Coaching football was a huge investment in time, he said recently.
“Time doesn’t stand still for anybody,” he said.
Stepping away from football was not easy for Davis, Wanda said. He found it difficult to see the lights on at Ed Bryant Stadium on Friday nights, she said.
He also took a job as an assistant principal at Franklin County Middle School to get off the FCHS campus, she said.
Davis gave up his athletic director duties from 2001-03 to serve as assistant principal.
He did not find it to his liking.
“I’d rather have a whistle around my neck than a brief case in my hand,” he said. “And, I’d rather be called ‘coach’ than ‘mister.’”
In looking back on his football coaching career, Davis said he remembers the stiff competition his teams faced.
Not only did the Lions run into Carrollton often in the state playoffs, but their regular seasons were filled with games against Northeast Georgia coaching legends like Commerce’s Ray Lamb, Hart County’s Bobby Pate, Stephens County’s Rodney Walker, Habersham Central’s Larry Black, North Hall’s Jim Lofton, Gainesville’s Bobby Gruhn and Winder-Barrow’s Phil Jones and their teams.
Davis said he made “tons of mistakes” and there were lots of things he would like to do again.
“Probably most of the criticism I got, I deserved,” he said.
But, Davis said he can see God’s hand on him and he knows his teams gave it all they had.
A tennis staple
MeriBeth and JoAnna Davis didn’t get any special favors from their father when they played tennis for him.
He showed no favoritism toward his daughters. They had to earn their positions on the team like all the other players.
But he kept a watchful eye on them.
JoAnna, who played No. 1 and No. 2 singles during her high school career, said she popped her racket on the ground in frustration after making a bad shot.
Coach Davis immediately called her to the fence.
She said the message was simple: do that again and you will be pulled from the match and forfeit.
Tennis was the other staple of Davis’ coaching career. He actually led the Franklin County tennis programs for more than 20 years – longer than he did the football program.
He became tennis coach, initially at least, he said, out of necessity.
“We needed a tennis coach and I could find myself better than I could find somebody else,” he said.
But after his daughters started to play, it became more personal.
He was there as coach for every point, game and match.
“They never hit a tennis ball at the high school level that I wasn’t with them,” he said. “You can’t put a price tag.”
While the tennis program has been solid through the years, it has had its greatest success in the last two seasons.
The boys’ tennis team won back-to-back Region 7AAA championships in 2015-16, while the girls won the region title in 2015.
Those are the only region tennis titles in school history.
Added to that, both teams made the state’s Elite Eight in 2015 and 2016.
In tribute to Davis at the end-of-the-year tennis banquet, assistant coach Chitwood announced that a new scoreboard – to be named the Coach Jeff Davis Scoring Center – will be installed at the FCHS tennis complex, complete with Davis’ regular encouragement to his teams “You got this, Big Man.”
Chitwood said that Davis has added a lot of class to the tennis program.
“My goodness, how many you’ve impacted,” Chitwood said of Davis, who coached Chitwood and his son Jonah in tennis.
A lasting athletic impression
The gold trophies line each side of the receptionist’s desk in the main office at FCHS.
There are eight of them. From spring sports alone.
In Davis’ final sports season as athletic director, Franklin County’s spring sports teams won region championships in baseball, boys golf, girls golf and boys tennis and were runners-up in girls tennis, boys track and girls track.
Adding the softball team’s region title and a runner-up finish in area by the wrestling team, and the Lions and Lady Lions have won five region championships and four region runner-up finishes in 2015-16 alone.
Those accomplishments just added to the impressive athletic director’s resume Davis already owned.
With Davis as athletic director, FCHS has won 30 region championships and five state championships.
Among the region championships, he’s personally led teams to the only titles in football, boys tennis and girls tennis.
Franklin County teams have also had 27 region championship runner-up finishes and three state runner-up finishes.
He was named region Athletic Director of the Year three times and won the state honor as well.
Davis said his philosophy as athletic director was to get out of the way.
As long as the coaches that worked under him showed a passion for what they were doing, “I’m going to let you coach,” he said. “These people run their programs. We leave them alone and try to stay out of the way.”
Davis said he was not one to micromanage and made a conscious effort to stay away. Even as football coach, he allowed his assistants to coach without looking over their shoulders.
Davis hired and/or worked with head coaches who carved out their own spots in Franklin County and Northeast Georgia sports history: Harry Marsh, Holly Wilk Mason, Jim Burch, Jason Oliver, Rik Moore, Jan Taylor, Ronnie Royston, Ron Carter, Mike Schyck.
There are too many former players and assistant coaches who have gone on to success at other schools as head coaches to mention.
Davis said his advice to new Franklin County Athletic Director Steve Horton, who has been hired to take Davis’ position, will be to surround himself with good people and let them work.
The key is to trust them, give them the resources they need and then “stay out of the way and let them work,” Davis said.
Davis is quick to point out that he would not have been able to juggle his athletic director duties with coaching and teaching without the help of the high school’s secretaries over the years.
“I cannot tell you what the secretaries have done over my 32 years,” he said.
They did it to help him. He never had a secretary whose sole job was the athletic department.
He also commended the volunteers that helped with the program, and singled out Angie McCauley in particular.
McCauley has “been a workhorse,” he said, who has helped raise money and players in the program.
“She’s raised a lot of money for these kids,” he said.
At his last tennis banquet as coach, Davis said of McCauley, “I can honestly say if I took another job today and they said you can bring five people with me, she’d have to be one of the five.”
As he has said, he’s stepping down now because he thinks it is time personally to do so and because he wants to give the school system a chance to make some needed changes.
The school board has done just that.
As the new athletic director, Horton will oversee all sports at FCHS and Franklin County Middle School.
Horton will teach but won’t coach, something that Davis suggested was needed because of all of the duties facing athletic directors today.
Family also plays a part in Davis’ retirement. Davis said he wants to have more time available for his family.
A legacy to leave behind
Chuck Holland played football and tennis for Davis at FCHS. He’s been a middle school football and tennis coach for several years and was recently named to succeed Davis as FCHS tennis coach.
“Although I did not take tennis as seriously as football, I was still motivated and inspired by Coach Davis, and the same respect and belief he displayed in his football players, he also showed to his tennis team,” Holland wrote in an appreciation of the coach that can be read in its entirety on Page 4B. “This taught me a valuable lesson in life – to be the same man, day in and day out, regardless of who’s around me or what I’m doing; for those who know Jeff Davis, you know that he exemplifies this!”
Testaments to Davis’ character and impact on his players and coaches are abundant.
Wanda Davis said her husband’s character is a constant.
“He’s just the same man that you see on the field, off the field and at home,” she said. “He’s uncompromising. When I think about him I think of loyalty. He is a loyal man. He would not compromise his values or his morals for anything.”
His daughters agreed.
“He was the same at home as he was on the football field as he was in Sunday school,” MeriBeth said.
“He is the same man outside as when you close the doors,” JoAnna said.
Integrity is important to him.
MeriBeth said she remembers her father taking her to a store when she was 4 years old.
The clerk gave her two cents too much in change, which she and Coach Davis discovered after returning home.
They drove all the way back to the store to return the two pennies, she said, “because that was the right thing to do.”
Along with caring and consistency, her father’s character will be his legacy at Franklin County, she said.
“Dad is loyal to a flaw,” she said, and does everything to the best of his ability – 100 percent.
“A lot of people over the years have been able to call him coach, but it has always been a privilege and honor to call him Dad,” MeriBeth said.
“He always put somebody else before him,” JoAnna said.
Like Holland, that character made an impression on others.
At the time Davis’ retirement was announced earlier this year, Coach Jason Oliver said, “The first thing that comes to mind is how indebted this community is to Jeff Davis. I am who I am because I’ve learned so much about how to be a man of integrity from him.”
One of Davis’ closest friends, Coach Harry Marsh said, “His integrity and honesty are impeccable. He usually does the right thing. You can’t ask for a better person to work for.”
Demond Rivers, an assistant lay coach for the current Lions baseball team and a former player, hugged Davis recently and told him, “Coach, I just want to thank you for giving me an opportunity to coach.”
At the baseball team’s Senior Night, a sport Davis hasn’t coached in more than 30 years – he had a 19-15 record in two seasons – all three seniors picked him as the teacher that has impacted them the most.
Before the baseball team presented him a plaque for his work, the dedication was read: “His compassion and love for the people and the student athletes makes him much more. Not only has he been a coach and a mentor but he lives his daily life as a role model for the teenagers of our county. We will miss you dearly Jeff but your legacy will live on here forever.”
JoAnna Davis said with her father’s retirement, Franklin County is losing a man who is honest, humble and very kind but very passionate about people and his home community.
“He bleeds green and black,” she said. “Always has. Always will.”
Many of the statistics in the story were found at ghsfha.com.