Lawrence Columbus "Crash" Davis (July 14, 1919 – August 31, 2001) was an American professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

player whose name inspired that of the main character of the

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

movie ''

Bull Durham ''Bull Durham'' is a 1988 American romantic comedy sports film. It is partly based upon the minor-league baseball experiences of writer/director Ron Shelton and depicts the players and fans of the Durham Bulls, a minor-league baseball team in ...

''.

Biography

Born in

Canon, Georgia Canon is a city in Franklin and Hart counties in the U.S. state of Georgia. The population was 804 at the 2010 census. History Canon was originally called "West Bowersville", and under the latter name was laid out in 1875. The Georgia General ...

, and raised in

Gastonia, North Carolina Gastonia is the largest city in and county seat of Gaston County, North Carolina, United States. It is the second-largest satellite city of the Charlotte area, behind Concord. The population was 80,411 at the 2020 census, up from 71,741 in 2010 ...

, Davis earned the nickname "Crash" at age 14, when he collided with a teammate when chasing down a fly ball. Davis excelled as a middle infielder at

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

, where he was the captain of the baseball team and a member of the Chi Phi Fraternity until he graduated in 1940. After graduating from Duke, Davis played three seasons for the

Philadelphia Athletics The Philadelphia Athletics were a Major League Baseball team that played in Philadelphia from 1901 to 1954, when they moved to Kansas City, Missouri, and became the Kansas City Athletics. Following another move in 1967, the team became the Oaklan ...

, batting .230 in 148 games. He was drafted into the United States Navy in 1942 amid World War II, and was assigned to

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

, where he helped run the

ROTC The Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC ( or )) is a group of college- and university-based officer-training programs for training commissioned officers of the United States Armed Forces. Overview While ROTC graduate officers serve in all ...

program. Davis also coached Harvard's baseball and

squash Squash may refer to: Sports * Squash (sport), the high-speed racquet sport also known as squash racquets * Squash (professional wrestling), an extremely one-sided match in professional wrestling * Squash tennis, a game similar to squash but pla ...

teams. When he was discharged from the Navy in 1946, Davis returned to

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county * Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...

to begin graduate school at Duke and play for the

Durham Bulls The Durham Bulls are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays. They are located in Durham, North Carolina, and play their home games at Durham Bulls Athletic Park, which opened ...

, then a part of the

Carolina League The Carolina League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated along the Atlantic Coast of the United States since 1945. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 unti ...

. Davis would play in the minor leagues, with teams including the

Reidsville Luckies The Reidsville Luckies were a minor league baseball team based in Reidsville, North Carolina, USA. They played in the Bi-State League from 1935–1940 and returned in 1947 as part of the Tri-State League in 1947. They switched to the Carolina Leag ...

and the

Raleigh Capitals The Raleigh Capitals was a name used by various minor league baseball teams that were based in Raleigh, North Carolina. Most of these teams played at Devereaux Meadow. There have been minor league baseball teams in the past that played in Raleig ...

, until 1952. After ''

'' was released, Davis became a minor celebrity. He befriended the director of the film,

Ron Shelton Ronald Wayne Shelton (born September 15, 1945) is an American film director and screenwriter and former minor league baseball infielder. Shelton is known for the many films he has made about sports. His 1988 film ''Bull Durham'', based in part ...

, and Shelton gave him a bit part in his movie '' Cobb'' about controversial baseball player

Ty Cobb Tyrus Raymond Cobb (December 18, 1886 – July 17, 1961), nicknamed "the Georgia Peach", was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) center fielder. He was born in rural Narrows, Georgia. Cobb spent 22 seasons with the Detroit Tigers, the las ...

. Sometime during the mid 1950s, Davis began working for the textile conglomerate Burlington Industries at their Gastonia Plant and advanced to become the Personnel Manager for the Domestics Division in Greensboro, NC, until his retirement in the mid-1980s. Davis died on August 31, 2001, from complications of stomach cancer.

External links

The Legend of the Real Crash Davis
Philadelphia Athletics Historical Society

at Baseball America {{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Crash 1919 births 2001 deaths Duke Blue Devils baseball players Philadelphia Athletics players Baseball players from Georgia (U.S. state) Baseball players from Philadelphia Major League Baseball second basemen United States Navy personnel of World War II Lawrence Millionaires players Pawtucket Slaters players Durham Bulls players Raleigh Capitals players Reidsville Luckies players People from Franklin County, Georgia People from Gastonia, North Carolina Deaths from cancer in North Carolina Deaths from stomach cancer Harvard Crimson baseball coaches Harvard Crimson men's squash