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.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 .
The Philadelphia Warriors selected the 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 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.
Career statistics
NBA Source
Regular season Year Team GP MPG FG% FT% RPG APG PPG 1953–54 Philadelphia 68 23.1 .367 .644 6.4 .9 5.9 1954–55 Philadelphia 61 12.6 .385 .729 3.4 .6 2.9 † Philadelphia 70 15.7 .369 .688 3.9 .8 4.6 Philadelphia 65 19.2 .407 .698 4.7 .8 6.6 1957–58 Philadelphia 35 10.7 .341 .667 2.5 .5 3.0 † St. Louis 26 11.0 .357 .776 3.3 .4 4.9Career 325 16.4 .377 .695 4.3 .7 4.8
Playoffs Year Team GP MPG FG% FT% RPG APG PPG 1956† Philadelphia10* 6.9 .455 .500 2.8 .3 2.3 1957 Philadelphia 2 18.5 .308 1.000 7.0 .5 6.0 1958† St. Louis 9 7.3 .379 .833 3.0 .3 3.6Career 21 8.2 .391 .773 3.3 .3 3.2
References