Dear Friends,
At some point during Walter Davis’s rookie year, he made an appearance at the old Hanny’s store in Park Central Mall. As I look into my mind’s eye, I can see the sign that was on the outside of the mall for the store and remember my dad and I pulling in and parking near the entrance. I was so excited.
Walter “Sweet D” Davis was my favorite player. He was electric and smooth and had the best jump shot of anyone I had ever seen. I was seven or eight years old and had the hugest man crush on the guy. We went into the store and waited for a bit. He signed my piece of lined paper from my school notebook and talked to me a little bit. It was heaven on earth.
My grandfather, Tom, was in the hospital at the time. Dad and I went there after meeting Mr. Davis and I showed my grandfather the autograph. He had nice, big handwriting and had written “Walt Davis” in a way that was really easy to read. There was a #6 underneath, too, in case I might forget who he was in a few years, maybe.
I’ve never forgotten him. He’s still my favorite player, but I was saddened yesterday to read of his death. 69 is too young.
Years ago, when I was working at Easy Street, we had a customer come in who I took an instant liking to after we chatted a bit. He was probably ten or fifteen years older than me. Sadly, I don’t remember his name, but during one of our chats, I had mentioned to him that Walter Davis was my favorite all-time player. A few weeks later he came in for lunch and handed me five or six Walter Davis rookie cards. I still have those, too.
It was such a thoughtful gift. One sports fan looking out for another. I knew this guy, who I now want to call David, was an avid card collector because we had discussed some of the cards I had collected over the years, but he really blew me away with the gift. Last night I wanted to go through my stuff and find the cards, but I decided to just hit the sack instead. I will find them another day.
When Davis would get hot, there was no stopping him. He was so graceful on the court and had sneaky speed, too. I always wondered how the defenders could forget that he had that burst of speed he could turn on whenever he wanted. He would just kill people from the mid-range and at 6’6” he could get his shot off against most other players. After hitting four or five of his silky-smooth jumpers, he would then blow by his defender and get to the rim for a layup. Man, I wish I could watch him play again.
Like any fan, I was sad when the Suns drug scandal happened, and they ended up trading Davis to Denver. It hurst to see him in another uniform. For a while, I lost interest in the Suns because of Davis being gone. The fans fell in love with him up there, too, and I wasn’t surprised. I always wished the Suns would bring him back.
He scored 15,666 points in a Suns uniform. Not too shabby at all, although eventually Devin Booker will pass him. He also had over 1000 steals, too, while playing for the Suns, which is 3rd on their all-time list and no current player is close to him.
My heart goes out to all who loved him. I know I sure did. This one hurts.
See you tomorrow.
Stole this pic.
Nice tribute