In a ceremony before the MLWGS boys’ varsity basketball season opener at Henrico High School, Coach Guy Davis was honored by his former team.
Mr. Davis was called out onto the court before the game, and the announcer read off the laundry list of achievements that Mr. Davis accrued while at the helm of the Henrico High School Varsity Basketball team.
To commemorate Mr. Davis, Henrico High officially named their basketball court, Guy Davis Court.
“It was supposed to be a surprise,” said Mr. Davis. “But I found out.”
“First of all, it is very much deserved,” said Director Mr. Doug Hunt. “Hats off to them [Henrico High School] for recognizing him. He spent an unbelievable number of hours with students and parents building Henrico into a formidable basketball program.”
Many of Mr. Davis’ former assistant coaches and players as well as members of his family were in attendance and were called down from the stands to pose with Mr. Davis in a group picture. MLWGS was well represented, as former Assistant Coach Calvin Jamison was present, along with former players Max Hilterbrant (’08) and Ben Ashauer (’08).
“That was the highlight of the whole evening—seeing the players who had played [for me],” said Mr. Davis.
“It was cool to see how many people have been influenced by Coach Davis,” said Parker Kirwan (’10), co-captain of the basketball team. “He’s such a legend in coaching.”
It is not just in the school that he was admired, but in the whole Richmond area,” said Mr. Hunt.
Several members of the MLWGS faculty were in attendance, including Director Mr. Doug Hunt and Athletic Director Mr. Jim Holdren.
Mr. Hunt also had the distinction of being a teammate of Mr. Davis on their 1960 state championship basketball team from Highland Springs High School.
“It was fun for me because I had played [with Mr. Davis],” said Mr. Hunt. “Two of the other players from our team were there.”
Mr. Davis accomplished a great deal over his twenty-six year tenure as head coach at Henrico High School. He had an overall record of 358 wins and 227 losses for a sixty-one percent winning percentage. He was four-time Metro Richmond Coach of the Year and led his team to a total of thirteen district or regional titles.
Mr. Davis was the five-time coach of the Metro Richmond entry to the U.S. Youth Games. In 1979, his team won the U.S. Youth Games National Championship.
“We basically had the best fourteen and fifteen year olds to choose from in the Richmond area,” said Mr. Davis. “We could put five guys on the court that were just as good as the cities.”
Over the years, Mr. Davis has coached a wide variety of players, including those who went on to higher levels of basketball. He has coached for former NBA players, including Tim Legler from his Metro Richmond team and Alan Bristow for Henrico High School.
When Mr. Davis looked back over his coaching career, he said that his favorite part of it was the players.
“When you coach a long time you come across a lot of fine young men.”
Mr. Davis also said that he has enjoyed his time as head coach at MLWGS.
“Our kids are good kids. They are fun to be around,” said Mr. Davis. “As a coach, I just like going to practice every day.”
The MLWGS community also seems to enjoy having Mr. Davis as the head coach.
“He’s made me a better player in every aspect of the game,” said Kirwan. “He taught me to be strong in the briar patch.”
“Coach Davis and I have been friends since I was fifteen years old,” said Mr. Hunt. “I’m so happy that he accepted my offer to work with the kids here.”
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