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 ...

player whose name inspired that of the main character of the 1988 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 ...

''.

Biography

Born in Canon, Georgia, 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 2 ...

, 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, where he was the captain of the baseball team and a member of the

Chi Phi Fraternity Chi Phi () is considered by some as the oldest American men's college social fraternity that was established as the result of the merger of three separate organizations that were each known as Chi Phi. The earliest of these organizations was for ...

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 Oakl ...

, 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 high ...

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

, 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 un ...

. Davis would play in the minor leagues, with teams including the Reidsville Luckies and the Raleigh Capitals, 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 o ...

, and Shelton gave him a bit part in his movie ''

Cobb Cobb may refer to: People * Cobb (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the surname Cobb * Cobb Rooney (1900–1973), American professional football running back Places New Zealand * Cobb River * Cobb Reservoir * Cobb Power ...

'' 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 la ...

. 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 Stomach cancer, also known as gastric cancer, is a cancer that develops from the Gastric mucosa, lining of the stomach. Most cases of stomach cancers are gastric carcinomas, which can be divided into a number of subtypes, including gastric adenoca ...

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