Otis Davis

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Otis Davis : biography

July 12, 1932 –

It was also at the 1960 games that Davis met and became friends with Muhammed Ali. Davis comments, "Boy, you think I talk a lot, but I couldn’t get a word in with him. And since he’s a boxer and I’m a runner, I couldn’t really argue with that. We just kind of gelled."

Post-Olympic career

Following the Olympics, Davis competed in some sporadic track meets, such as the 1961 U.S. Nationals at Randall’s Island, where at age 29, Davis was victorious, but his competitive running career was virtually over, as he never repeated his Olympic performance. He returned to Oregon, where he obtained his degree, a B.S. Health & Physical Education, in 1960.. OtisDavisOlympian.com. Retrieved March 20, 2012. He later considered playing as wide receiver for the Los Angeles Rams. After retiring from competition, Davis become a high school teacher, working in Springfield, Oregon for many years, and then traveled overseas to work as an athletic director at United States military bases, including McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey, where he taught in 1989. He also taught various after-school programs for gifted students.

In 1991, Davis moved to Jersey City, New Jersey, in order to live closer to New York, eventually settling in Union City sometime after December 2008. In 1996 he was a torch-bearer for the Summer Olympics in Atlanta.

Around 2002 or 2003, Davis was hired by the Union City Board of Education, and began working at Emerson High School as a truancy officer, teacher, coach and mentor. When he was inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame in 2003, he asked Principal Robert Fazio to accompany him to the ceremony in Los Angeles, and when the rest of the school’s staff discovered that Davis was an Olympic medalist, they honored him with a banner posted in a hallway in the school honoring his achievements.

As of 2012, Davis works as a verification officer at Union City High School, where he continues to mentor students, some of whom have gone on to win the United States Olympians Tri-States Chapter Annual Achievement Award, which is awarded to New York, New Jersey and Connecticut students. The top five winners in 2012 were Union City students. He is also co-founder and current president of the Tri-States Olympic Alumni Association, a member of the University of Oregon Hall of Fame and the New Jersey Sports Writers’ Halls of Fame.

Davis runs athletic skills programs during the spring and summer in Union City, in order to reach students who do not normally participate in sporting events, and to complement the schools’ physical education curricula. Among the programs that Davis directs are the Mayor’s Cup, first held on June 6, 2011, in which students from the city’s several elementary schools compete in events that include sprinting, spring relays and circle relays.Nardone, Christine (June 8, 2001). . The Hudson Reporter. Another event is the Sports Challenge, which provides special needs children with the opportunity to be a part of sports activities.Machcinski, Anthony J. (December 20, 2012). . NJ.com.