Academic Athlete /Southeast /November 2013
Jamez Davis
Charlton County High School
Folkston, Georgia
Story by John DuPont
Photography by: Jennifer Carter Johnson
Going Beyond the Call
Twelfth graders typically spend their idle moments dreaming of homecoming, prom, grad bash, and other events that define the last days of the best years of their lives. While Charlton County High School senior Jamez Davis enjoys those same trappings of youth, he also makes time to prepare for his life’s calling. Davis, the son of Oliver and Jacqueline Davis, has plans to become a medical doctor. According to those in his inner circle, the idea is not at all farfetched. “I’ve been around a lot of really outstanding kids and Jamez is right up there, as good as any I’ve had,” says CCHS head coach Rich McWhorter. “So much of this is due to his parents and the way they raised him. Kids will tell you they are going to do this and that even if they’re not preparing to do it. But when Jamez tells me he’s going to be a doctor, there’s no doubt he will be and he’ll be a great one.”
Last summer, Davis attended the National Youth Leadership of Medicine, a 10-day seminar at Emory University. He will attend the second part of the experience when the school year ends. Inspired by several relatives who have suffered debilitating illnesses, Davis has made it his medical mission to find a cure for Alzheimer’s disease. “It started when I was little,” Davis explains. “On my mom’s side, relatives have had diabetes and it struck me to ask ‘Why does that happen?’ That got me on board with medicine. I would like to see myself as a neurosurgeon. The brain is interesting. Coaches have always told me how football is a mental sport and how the brain controls every aspect of your body, even the little stuff you don’t think about.
”At 5’8” and 185 pounds, Davis isn’t your prototypical offensive lineman. He worked diligently in the weight room over the years and eventually battled his way into the lineup. These days, he benches 285 pounds, cleans 265 and squats 450. “When Jamez came to us, he was really a little guy,” says McWhorter. “But he really understood what needed to be done. He got after it in the weight room and turned himself into a starter, and that goes back to his intelligence.” The winner of numerous awards for anatomy, history and language arts, Davis topped 1400 on the SAT and scored 21 on the ACT. He currently maintains an A average in English 1101 and 1102 at Okefenokee Technical College. Not surprising, his favorite class is anatomy. “We dissected cows’ eyes and we had people talking about how bad it smelled, but I just had a blast,” beams Davis, who discusses his Emory experience with equal enthusiasm. “It was amazing. The first day I got there I was nervous and didn’t know anybody. There were all these people from different places around the world, but we all had the same goal. We all became a family in those 10 days and we still stay in contact. It was a great way to interact with people you don’t normally see in your circle around town.” The inner circle for Davis includes his parents and three siblings: older brothers Jeronte and Justin, as well as younger sister Elzaria, a cheerleader at Charlton County Middle School. Davis also looks to teammates Drake Gillis, Will Gowen, and Antonio Tarpley, who help push him to greater heights, none more so, however, than best friend Tanner Morgan. “Tanner is bigger than me,” notes Davis. “Every day at practices we go against each other to see if my technique beats his strength. Every once in a while it does.”
“Jamez playing football was something he wanted to do,” says Davis’s father. “He is not your big lineman but he is very good at what he does. During the week when he’s getting ready, he looks at the defense and the guy that is going to be over him and he looks for a weakness. Against Clinch, their nose guard was pretty good and he was bigger than Jamez, but a couple of times Jamez put him down.”During the winter, Davis competes on the CCHS wrestling team, for which he crafted a 4-2 record last season. In the spring, he throws the discus and participates in relays for Charlton’s track team. He also makes time for community service projects, which include working with elementary school students and helping clean Okefenokee Swamp Park. He and his family attend First African Baptist Missionary Church in Baxley. There, Davis serves on the men’s usher board and sings with the youth choir and mass choir. “My mom always tells me just to keep working,” says Davis. “She always tells me, ‘You can’t impress everybody. There are going to be times when some people may not like where you’re going.’ She tells me to stay strong with who I am and where I want to be, to let God be my guide.” Davis already exhibits a bedside manner befitting a physician. He spends time with Elzia and Marilyn Hayes, his mother’s parents, as well as his grandmother on his father’s side, Wynell Davis. All require some degree of medical care, but Grandmother Davis, an Alzheimer’s patient, merits particular care. “Jamez is not embarrassed to help take time with an older grandparent who has Alzheimer’s,” notes Jacqueline Davis. “He just steps in does what needs to be done. He makes sure she is fed and when we’re not able to be here, he gives her medicine and makes sure she is in bed. She is a retired school teacher and Jamez will sing songs to her and sit out on the porch in a rocking chair with her. He just doesn’t see it any way other than that she is his grandmother.”
Though he doesn’t necessarily see himself playing football at the next level, Jamez Davis welcomes an opportunity to do so, citing the brotherhood engendered by the sport. His immediate goals after graduation include a return to Emory University, where he will attend the National Youth Leadership of Medicine as an alumni student. Davis has yet to determine a permanent college home, but his wish list included Morehouse and Duke. “With everything Jamez does, he just puts his whole heart into it,” says his mother. “He knows the power of prayer and we have instilled that within him. He goes beyond the call of duty. When he was born, I knew he was special and he has lived up to that billing.”
Organizations: National Honor Society, Beta Club, Student Council
Awards: Certificate of Merit (2012-13), President’s Education Award (2012-13)
Special Recognitions: Senior Superlative – Most Likely to Succeed, Mr. CCHS
Favorite TV shows: The Doctors, Grey’s Anatomy
“You won’t find a single person in Charlton County that will have anything negative to say about him. I’ve been blessed to have two great daughters, but if I had a son, I’d want to have Jamez Davis.”
– Coach Rich McWhorter“
I’ll always remember how hard our coaches pushed us to do more and be more than we could normally be. In the weight room, you do weight that is heavy and you’re thinking ‘I can’t do any more.’ But you have a coach beside you saying, ‘Do one more’ and I think that can carry on into life – to do more and to be more.
– Jamez Davis
