CLEVELAND, Tenn. – The first names change every few years, but “1” thing usually remains the same with the Cleveland High School football team.
And it involves the Davises.
For almost every season in the past 30 years, a Davis has worn either the No. 1 or No. 7 jersey for the Blue Raiders – a trend that dates back to current player B.J. Davis’s dad Buck Jr. and Buck’s brother Todd. B.J. now wears No. 1 but wore No. 7 the past two seasons while his brother Marcus wore No. 1.
Buck Jr. wore No. 1 in the early 1980s, and Todd wore No. 7. As a result, the younger Davis always wears No. 7 until the older brother leaves.
Todd’s son Brad, a senior at Walker Valley, wears No. 7.
“It’s just been a family thing,” B.J. said. “I wore No. 1 because my dad wore it.”
Prior to B.J., there were Marcus, the team’s leading receiver a year ago. Before him, there was Montez, Jay, Monzy, Mario Whaley (whose mom was a Davis) and Tez Davis. The latter was quarterback for the 1994 and ’95 state championship football teams, finishing his career with a 29-0 record as starter.
Korrie Davis wore No. 7 and was a part of the 1993 state-title team.
B.J. said there hasn’t been any issues with other players wanting to wear those numbers.
“I guess it’s some sore of unspoken rule that one of us will have that number,” he said.
The transition from No. 7 to No. 1 has been a good one for B.J., who is Cleveland’s leading receiver this season, with 22 catches for 431 yards and a total of five scores for the 3-1 Raiders. His average of 107.8 yards per game is tops in the Chattanooga area, while his 5.5 catches rank third for players participating in every game.
“I guess B.J. feels comfortable in that number,” Cleveland coach E.K. Slaughter joked.
“His contributions have been huge this year. He’s grown up a lot and has really came out of his shell. He’s matured not only as a player, but as a leader. He’s very encouraging to teammates, always smiling, as well as physically faster.”
Said B.J.: “I worked out very hard in the offseason, running a lot of bleachers and working out with Chad [Voytik, the quarterback].”
Davis’ output has been vital for Cleveland, which has equaled last season’s win total. The losing 2009 season was only the third in the 43-year history of the program.
“I thought we were going to be pretty good this year, but we needed to be,” he said. “I can’t go through another losing season. Last year was hard with it being only the third losing season in the school’s history, and we don’t want another one.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6311.