| Joe C. Davis Jr. | |
|---|---|
| Born | Joseph Columbus Davis Jr. June 15, 1919 Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S. |
| Died | November 26, 1989(1989-11-26) (aged 70) Nashville, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Education | Montgomery Bell Academy Vanderbilt University |
| Occupation | Businessman |
Joseph Columbus Davis Jr. (June 15, 1919 – November 26, 1989) was an American businessman and tennis player.
Early life
Joseph Columbus Davis was born in 1919 in Cincinnati, Ohio. His father was Joseph Columbus. His mother, Frances Bond Davis, was a feminist activist who supported the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution of 1920. He had a brother, Rascoe Bond Davis, and a sister, Bond Davis DeLoache. His family moved to Nashville, Tennessee at an early age.
He attended Montgomery Bell Academy, where he started playing tennis. Davis was implored to come to Vanderbilt by Dr. Tom Zerfoss. He graduated from Vanderbilt University, where he won 35 titles, including three Southeastern Conference championships, between 1936 and 1942. He also played on the Vanderbilt basketball team. During Davis' freshman year at Vanderbilt his father died . To support his family, he sold tailor-made suits to fraternities on campus.
During the Second World War, he joined the United States Navy and served as a Lieutenant, participating in the invasions of Sicily, Salerno and Normandy.
Business
From 1945 to 1955, he worked in the coal mining industry under Justin Potter (1898–1961). In 1955, he started his own coal mining business, Davis Coals, Inc., focusing on coal fields in Kentucky, like Justin Potter. Later, he started the Webster County Coal Corporation, which owned the Dotiki Mine in Clay, Kentucky, the most efficient coal mine in the United States at the time. In 1971, he sold his mines to Mapco. It is now owned by Alliance Resource Partners.
He was a member of the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce.
He sat on the Board of Trustees of his alma mater, Montgomery Bell Academy and Vanderbilt University. He played golf at the Belle Meade Country Club in Belle Meade, Tennessee.
Legacy
He died of Hodgkin's disease in 1989. He was inducted in the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame in 1976. The Joe C. Davis Professor of Biomedical Science chair at Vanderbilt University is named for him. His niece, Anne Davis, is married to Karl Dean, the former Democratic Mayor of Nashville. Davis is a member of the Tennessee Tennis Hall of Fame.
References
- ^ Jeff Woods, Mixing It Up: In mayor's race, Briley snipes at Dean and Gentry laughs at Clement Archived March 4, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, Nashville Scene, April 26, 2007
- ^ Bill Traughber, Joe Davis: Former Tennis Great Archived March 26, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, Vanderbilt Commodores, April 18, 2007
- ^ Joe C. Francis Foundation
- ^ Doug Campbell, Matriarch of family with close ties to Vanderbilt dies at 105 Archived February 1, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, November 6, 1999
- ^ Ken Whitehouse, Two-year-old niece of Mayor Karl Dean killed in Belle Meade accident Archived January 10, 2013, at the Wayback Machine, Nashville City Paper, February 16, 2012
- 1919 births
- 1989 deaths
- Businesspeople from Cincinnati
- Businesspeople from Nashville, Tennessee
- Sportspeople from Nashville, Tennessee
- American male tennis players
- United States Navy personnel of World War II
- Vanderbilt Commodores men's tennis players
- Vanderbilt Commodores men's basketball players
- 20th-century American businesspeople
- American men's basketball players
- United States Navy officers
- Deaths from Hodgkin lymphoma
- Deaths from lymphoma in the United States
- 20th-century American sportsmen