Wayne Davis (2002) - Hall of Fame - Indiana State University Athletics

Hall of Fame

Wayne Davis

Class

1984
Induction

2002
Sport(s)

Football

To sum up Wayne Davis, one could be to say that he is a person confident in his abilities and not afraid to overcome obstacles.

Davis was heavily recruited following a prep career as a running back at Cincinnati’s Mount Healthy High School. Larger schools wanted to utilize his talents as a defensive back, while other schools offered the opportunity to remain a running back.

Indiana State was one such program which wanted Davis to utilize his talents as a ball carrier, and thus was launched the career that would land him in the NFL. Except that during his sophomore year he was switched to defensive back. And it was as a defensive back that Davis would make his mark in football. As a senior in 1984, he was named Missouri Valley Conference Defensive Player of the Year and earned three Division I-AA all-America honors.

Following this successful career as a collegian, Davis was forecast to be selected high in the upcoming NFL Draft. He spent draft day in a San Francisco, California, hotel where he was a featured during ESPN’s NFL Draft coverage. Surrounded by his friends, he heard his name taken 11th in the second round and the 39th pick overall. Unfortunately, his cheering buddies drowned out the announcement and it wasn’t until a few minutes later, when his agent called to notify him of the selection, that Wayne Davis new that his new football home would be with the San Diego Chargers.

Davis and San Diego got along really well. After spending his entire life in the Midwest, he loved the warm climate of this beautiful city. It was during his first mini-camp, during a team stretching period, that then Chargers head coach Don Coryell came up to Davis and said “Son, you are going to be my starting left cornerback!”

Thrown straight into the fire, Davis tackled that challenge, spending the 1985 and 1986 seasons as a starter in the Chargers secondary.

Another obstacle confronted Davis when, prior to the 1987 season, he was traded from beautiful San Diego to Buffalo. Of all the places for him to be traded, having to leave this favorite city for - in his words - the dreary, gray, cold surroundings of Buffalo, New York. Nonetheless, he became a fixture in the Bills secondary for two seasons, until the 1988 campaign when was placed on the waiver list and eventually landed with the Washington Redskins, where in 1989 he finished out his playing career.

Not feeling as financially secure as what he would have liked, Davis now faced an obstacle known as finding a job outside of football. A self-taught computer wiz, he made use of the various computers which he had assembled as part of a recording studio in his home. Confident in his abilities, Davis also had become very adept at selling - both as a salesman as well as a spokesman. He accepted a position with an Atlanta-area computer firm, specializing in new business development and Info-Tech outsourcing with MacIntosh as his specialty. Acclaimed as being a leader in this field, Davis appeared this past April on the Oprah Winfrey Show during a segment titled ‘Addicted to Technology’ as well as making guest appearances on other technology-related TV programs.