Chris Davis Named To Unt Hall Of Fame

Buford_Julep · July 27, 2008

I like the idea of putting athletes in the Hall of Fame while they are still young and fresh on the minds of our fans. By now, most of the deserving old timers are in the Hall of Fame.

Congrats to Chris. He was loyal during some tough times that saw others leave North Texas. He is still loyal today, and is often in the stands when not playing basketball in europe. He was also an outstanding player. I wish I had a quarter for every time an announcer has said," So and So is so versatile he can play the 1,2,3 and 4." Chris Davis really did play four different positions.

Coach · July 27, 2008

An all time great without a doubt who deserves this honor.

drex · July 30, 2008

No player should be in the Hall of Fame before they have been out of school for at least ten years. Apparently the committee has changed the long standing qualification of ten years.

Harry · July 31, 2008

DRex I respectfully disagree with that. Why wait ten years and not reward players that have made such a tremendous impact for us?

drex · July 31, 2008

I just think that there are so many players from the distant past that could have been included. Of course, these current inductees deserve to be in, but in good time. Chris Davis ahead of Weasel Johnson, for instance, does not make sense to me.

Coach · July 31, 2008

Davis led the team in scoring for four seasons, rebounding twice, steals once, and assists three times.

Johnson led the team in assists twice.

Davis is the #2 all time leading scorer, and Johnson had the best single season for assists.

Johnson's teams were much, much better, so you have to give him a lot of leeway for that when it comes to comparing statistics. However, even with that considered, the difference in statistics is too much to overcome. My dad told me stories of Johnson long before I ever saw Davis play, and I know he was worth the price of admission with his quickness and playmaking ability that fit perfectly with Blakeley's style.

Johnson is deserving of the honor, and probably will be inducted one day, but looking over the list of basketball players that have been inducted, I don't see any that I would put Johnson over, including Davis. This is nothing against Johnson, but we are talking about the very best players the school has ever had, which is different than a fan favorite from the glory days. While Johnson is more than that, and will probably make it to the hall on the strength of the teams he played on and his assist numbers, it should not come at the expense of Davis, in 2008 or in 2013 (when Davis would have been graduated for 10 years), or any year in between.

CMJ · July 31, 2008

I understand the need to want to give some time to put someone's career in perspective before you enshrine them. So from that standpoint I can see wanting to wait a few more years before granting the honor to Marin, Kassel, and Davis. However, I have no problem at all with any of the selections.

May I also mention how pleased I am our '87-88 basketball team will also be honored? I couldn't believe more of a deal wasn't made(until now) about their anniversary.

Edited July 31, 2008 by CMJ

SUMG · July 31, 2008

No one, is doubting the qualifications of any of these inductees. But, I do agree with drex.

I think the class should have had more variety...when it comes to different eras. We have no players going in from the 60s, 70s, 80s or 90s. We have three that graduated in the 2000s and one that graduated in the 50s.

And btw...I loved what Brad Kassell did at NT. But there is no way, that he was the player here that NG Walter Chapman was. Walter was every bit as good as Booger Kennedy. Both very similar in that they were short DLinemen...but very quick.

KRAM1 · July 31, 2008

Very deserving, absolutely no doubt...but I am on the side of waiting a few years for induction into any Hall of Fame. I do not think the NFL and MLB "changes" the rules for exceptional players immediately after retiring. However, i will say again, I have no problems at all with the list of inductees, but to place folks in that soon seems to cut out some of those deserving UNT athletes who have "waited their time".

Just my 2 cents worth. But, I am a bit of a traditionalist in case you haven't noticed.

GO MEAN GREEN!

TheTastyGreek · July 31, 2008

May I also mention how pleased I am our '97-88 basketball team will also be honored? I couldn't believe more of a deal wasn't made(until now) about their anniversary.

Which one, the 10 year anniversary of the start of their season, or the 20 year anniversary of it's end?

I always thought we'd be penalized by the NCAA for sending a team back in time like that... It just seems like it SHOULD be a rules violation.

CMJ · July 31, 2008

Which one, the 10 year anniversary of the start of their season, or the 20 year anniversary of it's end?
I always thought we'd be penalized by the NCAA for sending a team back in time like that... It just seems like it SHOULD be a rules violation.

:lol: Nice catch.

Cooley · August 1, 2008

Not to knock Chris Davis, but I don't see him beating out any rotation player on the 75-76 team. He would have played significant minutes, but we would not be talking Hall of Fame inductions over Fred Mitchell, Melvin Davis, Kenneth William, Terry Bailey, Carl Jones and others. I feel Waymon Lister was a better player coming off the bench followed by Charles McMillan the next year. Jon Manning and Delonte Taylor later on

The only argument against Weasel Johnson being in the Hall is that he only played 2 years after transferring from McLennan CC. He was the most significant addition to the prior year squad that went 6-20 (getting Gene Robbins fired) Blakely brought in a more up tempo offense to suit the talent he had along with newly hired SOC assistant coach James Gales, Billy Tubbs and Tommy Moffit. They put the ball in Weasel's hand and told him run this machine. He performed his role as well as anyone in the country and led this team to a school record 22-4.

We need to recruit more Chris Davis types to UNT because many just go off to the bigger named offer that comes alone. Young people, come to UNT and you may have an excellent shot to set school records and possibly get Hall of Fame votes. It's so unfortunate, but coaches and family fill these kids heads about TV exposure, large crowds and draft posssibilities. There will be a huge list of possibilities for UNT during the signing period as many have surfaced back at at a juco from their prior big school. NT remains is in a dog race for Kenny Perry out of a private catholic school in Houston.

Lastly, Walter Chatman deserves the UNT Hall before any Sun Belt Championship players. (Who’s on these committees by the way?)

Gone back into retirement!

Edited August 1, 2008 by Cooley

GrandGreen · August 1, 2008

Not to knock Chris Davis, but I don't see him beating out any rotation player on the 75-76 team. He would have played significant minutes, but we would not be talking Hall of Fame inductions over Fred Mitchell, Melvin Davis, Kenneth William, Terry Bailey, Carl Jones and others. I feel Waymon Lister was a better player coming off the bench followed by Charles McMillan the next year. Jon Manning and Delonte Taylor later on
The only argument against Weasel Johnson being in the Hall is that he only played 2 years after transferring from McLennan CC. He was the most significant addition to the prior year squad that went 6-20 (getting Gene Robbins fired) Blakely brought in a more up tempo offense to suit the talent he had along with newly hired SOC assistant coach James Gales, Billy Tubbs and Tommy Moffit. They put the ball in Weasel's hand and told him run this machine. He performed his role as well as anyone in the country and led this team to a school record 22-4.
We need to recruit more Chris Davis types to UNT because many just go off to the bigger named offer that comes alone. Young people, come to UNT and you may have an excellent shot to set school records and possibly get Hall of Fame votes. It's so unfortunate, but coaches and family fill these kids heads about TV exposure, large crowds and draft posssibilities. There will be a huge list of possibilities for UNT during the signing period as many have surfaced back at at a juco from their prior big school. NT remains is in a dog race for Kenny Perry out of a private catholic school in Houston.
Lastly, Walter Chatman deserves the UNT Hall before any Sun Belt Championship players. (Who's on these committees by the way?)
Gone back into retirement!

Beg to differ, IMO Davis was a better player than Mitchell, Melvin Davis, Kenneth Williams, Terry Bailey or Carl Jones and you can also threw in Weasel Johnson. Comparing apples and oranges to some degree as only Jones played Chris's position. Carl Jones was one of NT's best ever shooting guards but did not have anything close to Davis's all around game. Carl could out shoot Chris, but was not close in defense or rebounding. The others you listed were primarily shooting guards or small forwards (McMillan, Lister, Manning and Taylor), but again done had anything close to Chris Davis's overall game. McMillian could jump out of the gym but was not a particularly good offensive player. Manning was a pure shooter but was not much a factor or the boards or a defensive force. Taylor was as tough as anyone to wear the Green but again was not a big offensive threat. Including Lister in the best every at NT is kind of confusing to me, he was highly ranked as a recruit but never really reached expectations.

As far as Weasel Johnson, he was the only significantly piece to those 20 win Blakeley teams actually recruited by Blakeley. He was fun to watch and lighting fast but had way too many turnovers. As a group those Blakeley's teams had more talent than any I have seen at NT. So it is a little difficult to compare Chris who played on some very bad teams and was definitely the "go to guy" with Mitchell, Davis, Williams, Bailey and Jones who had to share the ball. All those you mentioned were among the best ever at NT but I think you are underrating Chris Davis a bit. On my all time list of best players I have seen at NT I would include Lurch Davis, Fred Mitchell, Terry Bailey, and Carl Jones along with Chris. Others I would include would be Crest Whitaker, Joe Hamilton, Willie Davis, Kenneth Lyons, John Shumate, Bobby Iverson and Jessie Ratliff.

I guess it speaks volumes that only Chris is a player from the last three decades at NT. I do think White and a couple of others on the current team could potentially join my list.