Ricky Davis may have only spent a year at the University of Iowa, but his impact on the school will go on forever. Davis played shooting guard during the 1997-98 season, averaging 15 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists. He went undefeated against Iowa State in his career, he got to play in the first round of both the Big Ten tournament and the postseason NIT, and he even started a few times. He was never happy, though, because college basketball offered little opportunity to give back to the community, and even fewer opportunities to record a triple double. After all, Davis' stated purpose was for two things: Helping his community and recording triple doubles.
Davis moved on to the NBA in 1998 after having been selected by Charlotte with the 21st pick in the draft. Still, he found the opportunities to pursue his dreams lacking. Davis spent almost five years shuttling between teams, from Charlotte to Miami to Cleveland, looking for an opportunity to help people and record some serious triple doubles. Finally, on March 16, 2003, while the Cavaliers were hosting Utah, and despite being a horrible team that would win only 17 games, Cleveland was winning by 24 points late. After a timeout where he diagrammed a play designed to give money to sick kids, Ricky was informed he was only one rebound from his holy grail: His first career triple double. Ricky saw his golden opportunity, and took advantage.
Yes, Ricky Davis took the inbound pass, turned to his own hoop, intentionally missed a shot, and attempted to grab the rebound to secure his triple double and complete every achievement in the game, thereby freeing him up to work in soup kitchens and lead canned good drives and donate 18 cents a day to that Santa Claus dude in Africa on the television. DeShawn Stevenson, not knowing Ricky's grander motives, took umbrage with the act and tackled Davis to the floor. Stevenson's coach, Jerry Sloan, later told reporters, " I was proud of DeShawn and I would have knocked him down harder. They can put me in jail for saying that, but that's the way it is." The Cavaliers fined Davis $5000 for his "unsportsmanlike behavior", money that was presumably donated to charity. Somehow, Davis had managed to do the impossible: Not only had he almost gotten a triple double, but he had selflessly given a local charity enough money to buy a used Buick.
That's why Ricky Davis, master of the triple double, is so deserving of his spot on the Buick Human Highlight Reel. He is a wonderful basketball player and, even more than that, he is a wonderful human being.
To see the rest of the Buick Human Highlight Reel, and even share a story of your own, go to ncaa.com/buick. This post is sponsored by Buick.