Former Vol great A. W. Davis has passed away

#3
#3
Sad to hear that The Rutledge Rifle is no more. Was he sick or was his passing sudden, anyone know?
 
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#5
#5
Sad to hear that The Rutledge Rifle is no more. Was he sick or was his passing sudden, anyone know?

He recently went in for surgery (colon cancer). It was pretty advanced when they discovered it iirc.
 
#7
#7
His jump shot was a thing of beauty. Enjoyed his comments as a color commentator with John Ward as well.
 
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#8
#8
I started following our basketball team just a year or two after he played. May he RIP and all his family be comforted.
 
#9
#9
Sad to hear that The Rutledge Rifle is no more. Was he sick or was his passing sudden, anyone know?

I heard Hyams say he's been Ill for some time now, today on the way home.
 
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#11
#11
I spent just a little bit of time around A.W. back about 40+ years ago. He was a friend of a friend. I saw him play at U.T. a few times when I was in high school, and my brother was at U.T.

My friend called him by his real name Arvis. His middle name was Watsell ( not positive of the spelling). Now you know why he went by A.W., instead of Arvis Watsell. I met his mother and father once, and it was easy to see where he got his height. They were both quite tall.

I helped my friend, Johnny Griffin, now deceased, and Popeye Tate, move A.W.into the upstairs of a home in North Knoxville (if my memory is correct) just after A.W. got married back when I was at U.T. My memory is that he had just got married, but I'm not 100% positive. At least I remember that we all drank beer, and carried furniture upstairs somewhere.

We all laughed until we cried watching A.W. drive a pickup truck with the 4 of us all in the front. A.W. must have worn about a 40 inch sleeve, and he couldn't turn the manual steering in the truck without beating up the guy next to him with his elbows. I do remember that A.W. was a fun loving guy back in those days. I moved away after that, and my friend died, and I never did see A.W. again after the move. R.I.P. Arvis.
 
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#12
#12
I spent just a little bit of time around A.W. back about 40+ years ago. He was a friend of a friend. I saw him play at U.T. a few times when I was in high school, and my brother was at U.T.

My friend called him by his real name Arvis. His middle name was Watsell ( not positive of the spelling). Now you know why he went by A.W., instead of Arvis Watsell. I met his mother and father once, and it was easy to see where he got his height. They were both quite tall.

I helped my friend, Johnny Griffin, now deceased, and Popeye Tate, move A.W.into the upstairs of a home in North Knoxville (if my memory is correct) just after A.W. got married back when I was at U.T. My memory is that he had just got married, but I'm not 100% positive. At least I remember that we all drank beer, and carried furniture upstairs somewhere.

We all laughed until we cried watching A.W. drive a pickup truck with the 4 of us all in the front. A.W. must have worn about a 40 inch sleeve, and he couldn't turn the manual steering in the car without beating up the guy next to him with his elbows. I do remember that A.W. was a fun loving guy back in those days. I moved away after that, and my friend died, and I never did see A.W. again after the move. R.I.P. Arvis.
Great story. Thanks for sharing.:hi:
 
#13
#13
I spent just a little bit of time around A.W. back about 40+ years ago. He was a friend of a friend. I saw him play at U.T. a few times when I was in high school, and my brother was at U.T.

My friend called him by his real name Arvis. His middle name was Watsell ( not positive of the spelling). Now you know why he went by A.W., instead of Arvis Watsell. I met his mother and father once, and it was easy to see where he got his height. They were both quite tall.

I helped my friend, Johnny Griffin, now deceased, and Popeye Tate, move A.W.into the upstairs of a home in North Knoxville (if my memory is correct) just after A.W. got married back when I was at U.T. My memory is that he had just got married, but I'm not 100% positive. At least I remember that we all drank beer, and carried furniture upstairs somewhere.

We all laughed until we cried watching A.W. drive a pickup truck with the 4 of us all in the front. A.W. must have worn about a 40 inch sleeve, and he couldn't turn the manual steering in the truck without beating up the guy next to him with his elbows. I do remember that A.W. was a fun loving guy back in those days. I moved away after that, and my friend died, and I never did see A.W. again after the move. R.I.P. Arvis.
I remembered a couple more things about the night of the move that were funny. A.W. and the other 2 guys played on a softball team together, and had come from a game that night. They were still in uniform, sweaty, and covered with red clay.

We were in an old Chevy pickup(don't know whose it was). The truck had no A/C, and it was a typical hot, humid, summer night. Well, if you can imagine a couple of Grainger County boys, maybe 3, and a college student from Greene County, all in the front seat of a pickup, sweaty, dirty, stinking, half drunk, and still drinking, while we were on the move.

I remember A.W. trying to turn the truck to the left, and his right elbow came up and knocked an open beer out of the hand of the guy next to him, and we all tried to catch it when it went between our legs., and rolled on the floor. I would love to have a recording of what everybody said while that happened.

I also have a picture of my 5'3" mother with a 6'7" A.W. standing beside her at a business convention. The top of her head is about the middle of his chest. My brother also went dove hunting with A.W. and J. Griffin( the friend in the truck) a couple of times .
 
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