Crash Davis

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Crash Davis
Runs batted in
43
Teams
Career highlights and awards

Lawrence Columbus "Crash" Davis (July 14, 1919 – August 31, 2001) was an American professional baseball player whose name inspired that of the main character of the 1988 movie Bull Durham.

Biography

Born in

Chi Phi Fraternity
until he graduated in 1940.

After graduating from Duke, Davis played three seasons for the

ROTC 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, then a part of the Carolina League. Davis would play in the minor leagues, with teams including the Reidsville Luckies and the Raleigh Capitals, until 1952.

After Bull Durham was released, Davis became a minor celebrity. He befriended the director of the film, Ron Shelton, and Shelton gave him a bit part in his movie Cobb about controversial baseball player Ty Cobb.

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.[citation needed]

External links