Davis’ Comeback Came Straight From the Heart : Circulatory Problem Didn’t Stop Him From Helping Chapman to Tennis Title

Whomp!

Terry Davis assaults yet another defenseless tennis ball.

This serve zips past his opponent, making a beeline for a spectator. Like a heat-seeking missile, the ball irresistibly draws toward its target. With all the grace of a marionette, the innocent bystander maneuvers away from a serious hurt. Davis just smiles.

No, terror doesn’t turn him on. But getting back to what’s most important to him--tennis--does.

Last year, as a 26-year-old, first-year player on the Chapman College tennis team, Davis was a phenom. As the Panthers’ No. 3 singles player, he served and volleyed his way to a 26-9 record. Remarkably, he had taken up the game only seven years before.

What Davis lacked in experience, he made up for in body. At 6-feet 4-inches and 185 pounds, he has the physique of a football player. Muscular--though he says he doesn’t lift weights--Davis’ right arm is twice the size of his left, resembling a mahogany table leg. Davis’ serve has been timed at 130 m.p.h. Teammates call him Popeye.

Strong, handsome (he was Mr. October in this year’s Men of Chapman Calender) and determined, his future seemed limitless. But then tennis turned on Terry Davis. The smile that was his constant companion straightened out. Toward the end of the season, holding his racquet became a labor as his right arm withered with each match.

The nadir came during the NCAA Division 2 individual championships in Texas. His hand was so weak that he was forced to withdraw from his matches. Frustrated, Davis could not understand how a sport that transformed him from furniture delivery man to full-scholarship athlete was tearing his body apart. Everything seemed to be crashing down, crashing down on his right arm.

“That was a horrible period,” Davis said. “Nobody knew what was happening to me. My hand would get tingly, then numb. The trainers thought it might be tendinitis. They had me ice my wrist and hand. That would work for a while, but when the ice came off the same thing started up again.

“In Texas I couldn’t even hold on to the racket anymore. When I got back, Mike took me right to the doctors.”

Mike is Chapman Coach Mike Edles. Edles had discovered Davis the year before when they played each other in a tennis tournament.

“I really didn’t play that well,” Davis said. “But I guess he liked what he saw.”

Edles brought Davis to a vascular surgeon, Dr. Kim Churney. What Churney had to say was less than encouraging. Churney told Edles that Davis had ruptured arteries in his chest that had clotted in his wrist.

“I didn’t realize how serious this was until the doctor told me the good news was they wouldn’t have to amputate Terry’s hand,” Edles said. “He said he wanted him in the hospital immediately.”

And St. Joseph’s of Orange is where Davis remained for the next three weeks.

“I remember when I called Terry the first night he was in the hospital,” said Robin Ray, Davis’ girlfriend of two years. “He was so down. He didn’t even want to talk. When someone who is usually as happy and up as Terry gets down, you can’t help but feel depressed. I felt horrible.”

Until this time, Ray and Davis had led what appeared to most a fairy tale life.

He the tennis star, she the head cheerleader at Chapman. In fact, Ray had been a cheerleader since she was 6 years old. That’s a lot of pep. She now works at (where else?) Disneyland.

“People would call us Barbie and Ken,” Ray said. “They thought we were just perfect. But that time was really hard on both of us. I know how much tennis means to Terry and I just tried to do what ever I could to keep his spirits up.”

Slowly, Davis got stronger. But each day in the hospital was keeping him away from workouts. He was gaining weight. Edles started calling him “pork chop” after he put on 10 pounds. The wait was agonizing.

By the time he was ready to leave, Churney dropped another bomb on Davis.

“He told me there was no guarantee that this wouldn’t happen again,” Davis said. “He told me next time the arteries might go to my heart and I could die on the spot. I thought about hitting a big serve, then boom, I’m dead on the court.

“He told me not to play tennis for six months, and that maybe I shouldn’t play it competitively again.”

Asking Davis to give up tennis was like asking him not to breathe.

Tennis was the first thing Davis had ever fought for. While he was in high school, he admits he was a quitter who really had no interest in team sports.

Maybe it was because when he was 17 he was 5-6 and 95 pounds. Maybe it was because some of the players he competed against at Compton’s Dominguez High School were Ken Landreaux of the Dodgers, Hubie Brooks of the Montreal Expos and Dennis Johnson of the Boston Celtics.

“It’s really easy to feel inferior with that kind of talent around,” Davis said. “There were so many great athletes. Anyway, I wasn’t the type who could deal with being competitive. If someone pushed me, or if things got tough, I’d just give up and walk away.

“But the first time I picked up a racket, I knew I could do well. Really, for the first time in my life I really worked hard for something, because I really loved it and wanted to succeed.”

Edles knew how much tennis meant to Davis, and worried he might try to come back too quickly.

“Terry, more than other players, centers his life around tennis,” Edles said. “I knew I had to watch him closely, because he would try to do too much.”

Edles wasn’t kidding. Davis knew he couldn’t play with his right arm, so he tried to play with his left.

“I was terrible, but it just felt great to be back on the court,” he said.

Davis made it all the way back this season and moved up to play No. 2 singles. He was 24-20 for Chapman, the 1985 Division 2 national champions.

If his life had been dominated by tennis before, it possessed him this season.

“When I got back, I appreciated the game even more,” Davis said. “I wanted to win so bad. A couple times I may have gotten out of control because I wanted to come back so quick and so strong.”

Against Harvard, Davis really let go. The Crimson was one of the top-ranked Division 1 teams last season. According to Davis, Harvard was cocky, snobbish and he wanted to beat them, badly.

In his match, Davis went three sets and was down match point when he hit a shot that he thought was in. But the Harvard player saw it differently.

“He called it out,” Davis said. “It was clearly in. I just asked him to look at the mark, but he refused. I got so mad that I jumped over the net and started walking toward him. I wasn’t going to hit him but he thought I was.”

Another Harvard player tried to intervene. Davis looked down at him and said, “Get outta my face.”

“That guy just made a U-turn and walked away,” said Ray, who worried that the pressure to come back had pushed Davis over the edge.

“Terry’s a gentleman, I knew he wouldn’t hit anyone,” she said. “But I knew he wanted to win really bad. He wanted to come back and prove he was his old self or maybe better.”

Davis lost the argument and the match, but Chapman defeated Harvard.

Davis explained there were more than a few factors that made him jump the net.

“Usually I wouldn’t do something like that,” he said. “But it was just like everything built up right there. I have a few strikes against me. I had the injury and people were saying I was too old and being a black tennis player . . . well, some guys would rather lose to their grandmother than lose to a black tennis player.

“I guess I had just had enough. I thought I had made it back, and this guy, by cheating, standing in my way.”

His right arm pounding the way, Davis will be on his way to Texas during the summer. He’ll play in a professional satellite tour.

“If I had a wish, I’d end up on the regular pro tour,” he said. “Some people say I’m too old, but then people said I’d never come back from my injury. I really want this for me.”