Robert L. Davis (February 13, 1908 – January 10, 1965) was an

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

coach. He served as the head football coach at Colorado State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts—now known as

Colorado State University Colorado State University (Colorado State or CSU) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Fort Collins, Colorado, United States. It is the flagship university of the Colorado State University Syst ...

—from 1947 to 1955. Davis was born and raised in

Salt Lake City, Utah Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Salt ...

and played his collegiate football at the

University of Utah The University of Utah (the U, U of U, or simply Utah) is a public university, public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret (Book of Mormon), Deseret by the General A ...

under

Ike Armstrong Isaac John Armstrong (June 8, 1895 – September 4, 1983) was an American football player, coach of football, basketball, and track, and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at the University of Utah from 1925 t ...

Quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

and team captain in 1929, Davis lead Utah to the conference championship, graduating in 1930. He coached at South Salt Lake City High School, Weber Junior College, and was an assistant coach at the University of Utah and the

University of Denver The University of Denver (DU) is a private research university in Denver, Colorado, United States. Founded in 1864, it has an enrollment of approximately 5,700 undergraduate students and 7,200 graduate students. It is classified among "R1: D ...

before being named as the head coach of football at Colorado A&M College on January 6, 1947. Davis utilized the

T formation In American football, a T formation (frequently called the full house formation in modern usage, sometimes the Robust T) is a formation used by the offensive team in which three running backs line up in a row about five yards behind the quarter ...

and veterans returning from World War II to turn around a 2–7 Aggies team in 1946 to an 8–2 team in 1948; placing second in the

Skyline Conference The Skyline Conference is an List of NCAA conferences, intercollegiate athletic conference based in the New York City area that competes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's NCAA Division III, Division III. The league was orig ...

. Upon turning the Aggies around in 1948, Colorado A&M was invited to and played in the 1949 Raisin Bowl in

Fresno, California Fresno (; ) is a city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County, California, Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley (California), Central Valley region. It covers a ...

against

Occidental Occidental may refer to: * Occident (of or pertaining to) * Western world (of or pertaining to) Places *Occidental, California, a town in Sonoma County, California, US * Occidental Park, Seattle, Washington, US Other uses * Interlingue, a const ...

. Only losing 21–20 in the last minutes of the game, Davis' 1949 team went on to a 9–1 record and placed second again. Davis was a revolutionary coach utilizing classroom football along with practice and game films to help his players excel. Davis also played black athletes, such as Eddie Hanna, George Jones and Alex Burl, in a predominantly white school. Several of Davis' players went on to play in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL), including

Dale Dodrill Dale Fike Dodrill (February 7, 1926 – January 18, 2019) was an American professional football player who was a defensive tackle for nine seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college footbal ...

Thurman "Fum" McGraw Thurman "Fum" McGraw (July 17, 1927 – September 13, 2000) was an American football player and college athletics administrator. He played college football for the Colorado A&M Aggies—now known as the Colorado State Rams—and was inducted ...

, Jim David,

Don Burroughs Donald Edward Burroughs (August 19, 1931 – October 20, 2006), nicknamed "The Blade", was an American professional football player who was a defensive back in the National Football League (NFL) for the Los Angeles Rams and the Philadelphia Eag ...

Jack Christiansen Jack LeRoy Christiansen (December 20, 1928 – June 29, 1986) was an American professional football player who became a college and pro coach. He played professionally in the National Football League (NFL) for the Detroit Lions as a safety and ...

, Alex Burl and

Gary Glick Gary Galen Glick (May 14, 1930 – February 11, 2015) was an American professional football safety who played six seasons in the National Football League (NFL) before he concluded his career in the American Football League (AFL) for one season. ...

. Three of his players were All-Americans; Thurman "Fum" Mcgraw (first team 1948, 1949), Harvey Achziger (first team 1952) and Gary Glick (second team 1955). Davis' 1955 team won the Skyline Conference championship, but following the season he resigned from coaching football to concentrate on his duties as athletic director, a post he had held since 1953. His departure began a four-decade downturn in the Rams' fortunes; he was the last coach to leave Fort Collins with a winning record until

Sonny Lubick Louis Matthew "Sonny" Lubick (born March 12, 1937) is a retired American football coach. He was the 15th head football coach at Colorado State University from 1993 to 2007. Lubick won or shared six Western Athletic Conference or Mountain West Co ...

's tenure. Davis continued as athletic director when Colorado A&M became Colorado State University in 1957 and is responsible for paving the way to construct

Moby Arena Moby Arena is an 8,083-seat basketball arena on the campus of Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado. The arena, officially known as the Colorado State Auditorium-Gymnasium, was opened on January 24, 1966, with a victory over New Me ...

and

Hughes Stadium Hughes Stadium may refer to: *Sonny Lubick Field at Hughes Stadium in Fort Collins, Colorado, U.S. *Charles C. Hughes Stadium in Sacramento, California, U.S. *Hughes Stadium (Morgan State) Hughes Stadium, also known as The Den, is a multi-purpo ...

during the campus' rebirth. Davis died while serving as athletic director on January 10, 1965, following a lengthy illness.

Head coaching record

College

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Bob 1908 births 1965 deaths Colorado State Rams athletic directors Colorado State Rams football coaches Denver Pioneers football coaches Utah Utes football players Utah Utes football coaches Weber Wildcats football coaches High school football coaches in Utah Players of American football from Salt Lake City Coaches of American football from Utah