William Laurece Davis (born ) is an American sports television

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

for

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

/ ABC. Davis works as an anchor on ''

SportsCenter ''SportsCenter'' (SC) is an American television sports news broadcasting show broadcast by ESPN. Originally anchored by Chris Berman, George Grande, Greg Gumbel, Lee Leonard, Bob Ley, Sal Marchiano and Lou Palmer, it premiered on Septem ...

'' and serves as host of various other programs on the network, including '' College GameDay'' football road show and basketball show. Since 2021, he has been ESPN's lead host for international soccer events.

Early life and career

Davis was born in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, Illinois, and was raised in

Muscle Shoals, Alabama Muscle Shoals is the largest city in Colbert County, Alabama, United States. It is located on the left bank of the Tennessee River in the northern part of the state and, as of the 2010 census, its population was 13,146. The estimated popula ...

. Davis graduated in 1988 from the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, the Capstone, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of ...

, earning Bachelor of Arts degrees in both Broadcast News and Public Affairs. While a student at Alabama, Davis regularly worked as a freelance television play-by-play announcer, studio host, and radio personality in select media outlets throughout the state, all positions that were primarily unpaid internships. In 1987, Davis began working as a general assignment reporter for WCFT-TV in

Tuscaloosa, Alabama Tuscaloosa ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, Tuscaloosa County in west-central Alabama, United States, on the Black Warrior River where the Gulf Coastal Plain, Gulf Coastal and Piedmont (United States), Piedm ...

. In 2001, Davis was named as an outstanding alumnus of the University of Alabama's School of Communication and Information Sciences.

Before ESPN

After graduating from Alabama, Davis served until 1993 in various positions at WRBL in

Columbus, Georgia Columbus is a consolidated city-county located on the west-central border of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. Columbus lies on the Chattahoochee River directly across from Phenix City, Alabama. It is the county seat of Muscogee ...

. At WRBL, Davis worked as a sports reporter, the lead weekend news anchor, and later as WRBL's sports director. In 1993, Davis left Georgia for

Flint, Michigan Flint is the largest city in Genesee County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. Located along the Flint River (Michigan), Flint River northwest of Detroit, it is a principal city within the Central Michigan, Mid Michigan region. Flin ...

. Davis began working as a sports anchor and reporter at WJRT-TV, a position where the young journalist would quickly garner the attention of

Career at ESPN

Davis left WJRT and Flint in March 1995 for

Bristol, Connecticut Bristol is a suburban city located in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States, southwest-west of Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford. The city is also 120 miles southwest from Boston, and approximately 100 miles northeast of New York City. The ...

. He began working for the

ESPN2 ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%). ESPN2 was initially ...

program ''SportSmash'', where he provided five-minute reports on sports news and scores. Davis hosted ESPN2's '' NBA 2Night'' in 1996 and 1997. From 1997 through 1999, Davis served as studio host of ESPN2's weekend ''RPM 2Night'' and Sunday morning ''RPM 2Day'' programs. Davis went on to anchor the program ''

'', alongside a number of other ESPN personalities. Davis also frequently gave the "Extra Point" report of ''

The Dan Patrick Show ''The Dan Patrick Show'' is a syndicated radio and television sports talk show, hosted by former ESPN personality Dan Patrick. It is currently produced by Patrick and is syndicated to radio stations by Premiere Radio Networks, within and inde ...

'' on

ESPN Radio ESPN Radio, which is alternatively branded platform-agnostically as ESPN Audio, is an American sports radio network and extension of the ESPN television network. It was launched on January 1, 1992, under the banner "SportsRadio ESPN". The netw ...

, and from time to time was a guest host on the program. Davis works on ''

'',

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

and

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

for the network. Previously, Davis hosted

horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance activity, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its bas ...

telecasts during the Triple Crown season. Davis was formerly the regular season host of '' College Football Live'' which airs daily during college football season and has served as the studio anchor of '' College GameDay'' football show and College Football Final. He is also the host of the '' College GameDay'' basketball road show. From 2006 to 2009, he was one of the hosts for ABC's coverage of the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to FIFA World Cup hosts ...

and the lead host of

UEFA Euro 2008 The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial association football, football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA ( ...

and

2009 FIFA Confederations Cup The 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup was the eighth FIFA Confederations Cup, Confederations Cup, and was held in South Africa from 14 June to 28 June 2009, as a prelude to the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The draw was held on 22 November 2008 at the Sandton ...

. He returned to soccer as the host of

UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the Anniversary#Latin-derived numerical names, quadrennial international men's association footb ...

on ESPN/ABC. On February 5, 2015, ESPN announced Davis signed a multi-year contract with the network through 2021 that included taking over as host of the ''College GameDay'' football road show in

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

for Chris Fowler, who had hosted the show since 1990. The deal also sees Davis discontinue his '' ESPN College Football Thursday Primetime'' duties but continue his weekly basketball play-by-play role. Davis said of his work at ESPN, "I don't think of my job as being hard. I know I'm the luckiest guy around. I get to watch basketball and talk about it. When you never feel as if you go to work, it's really easy and fun to do the homework."

Personal life

Davis is a

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

. He is married to Leigh Davis. They have one son and one daughter.

References

External links

Rece Davis bio
at ESPN Media Zone * {{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Rece American horse racing announcers American television sports anchors American television sports announcers American sports announcers American sports journalists College basketball announcers in the United States College football announcers ESPN people Major League Baseball broadcasters NBA broadcasters Women's college basketball announcers in the United States University of Alabama alumni People from Muscle Shoals, Alabama Living people American soccer commentators Year of birth missing (living people)