Walt Davis

{{Short description|American basketball player (1931–2020)}}

{{for-multi|the triple jumper|Walter Davis (athlete)|the 1980s basketball player|Walter Davis (basketball)|other people with similar names|Walter Davis (disambiguation){{!}}Walter Davis}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2019}}

{{Infobox basketball biography

| name = Walt Davis

| image = Walt Davis 1952.jpg

| image_size = 230px

| caption = Davis at the 1952 Olympics

| height_ft = 6

| height_in = 8

| weight_lb = 205

| birth_date = {{birth date|1931|01|05}}

| birth_place = Beaumont, Texas, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|2020|11|17|1931|01|05}}

| death_place = Port Arthur, Texas, U.S.

| high_school = Nederland (Nederland, Texas)

| college = Texas A&M (1949–1952)

| draft_year = 1952

| draft_round = 2

| draft_pick = 13

| draft_team = Philadelphia Warriors

| career_start = 1953

| career_end = 1958

| career_position = Power forward / center

| career_number = 12

| years1 = {{nbay|1953|start}}–{{nbay|1957|end}}

| team1 = Philadelphia Warriors

| years2 = {{nbay|1957|end}}

| team2 = St. Louis Hawks

| highlights =

• 2× NBA champion (1956, 1958)

| stat1label = Points

| stat1value = 1,558 (4.8 ppg)

| stat2label = Rebounds

| stat2value = 1,397 (4.3 rpg)

| stat3label = Assists

| stat3value = 231 (0.7 apg)

| bbr = daviswa01

| medaltemplates =

{{MedalSport |Athletics}}

{{MedalCountry|{{flagu|United States}}}}

{{MedalGold|1952 Helsinki | High jump}}

}}

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.[https://web.archive.org/web/20200417172805/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/da/buddy-davis-1.html Buddy Davis]. sports-reference.com

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 {{convert|2.04|m|ftin|frac=4}}.

The Philadelphia Warriors selected the {{convert|6|ft|8|in|m|adj=on}} 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.

Davis was Inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame in 1964[http://www.tshof.org/inductees/index.html?staff_id=90 Buddy Davis Bio from the Texas Sports Hall of Fame] 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.{{cite news|last1=Murrell|first1=I. C.|title=Buddy Davis, Olympic & NBA champ from Nederland, dies at 89|url=https://www.panews.com/2020/11/17/buddy-davis-olympic-nba-champ-from-nederland-dies-at-89/|access-date=November 18, 2020|work=The Port Arthur News|date=November 17, 2020}}