Retiring State S&L; Boss Keeps Plans to Himself : Transition: William Davis of Villa Park could join longtime associate William J. Crawford in Huntington Beach.

William D. Davis, who is resigning as commissioner of the state Department of Savings and Loan, plans to return to the S&L; industry quickly, but he won’t say where he’s going.

While Davis stayed mum, industry insiders said that he likely will join old friend and former boss William J. Crawford at Guardian Savings & Loan in Huntington Beach.

Crawford, 71 on Tuesday, had been the state S&L; commissioner. Appointed in early 1985, he brought Davis in as his chief deputy. He retired a year ago, and Davis, 54, replaced him in the $95,052-a-year post.

Crawford was hired Feb. 4 as Guardian’s chairman, president and chief executive by the S&L;’s owners, Russell and Rebecca Jedinak, after regulators had pressured the Jedinaks to relinquish control because of sloppy record-keeping and an archaic management structure.

Insiders said Crawford is expected to turn over the chief executive’s post to Davis. Crawford could not be reached for comment.

Davis, a Villa Park resident, will leave the fast-fading agency on Tuesday. His decision to quit is not unexpected. The agency has only 55 thrifts to supervise--about a third of the S&Ls; that it supervised in the mid-1980s. It is also down to 34 employees from a high of about 140, he said.

Crawford and Davis, two veteran thrift executives, earned a reputation as tough regulators. They moved against the owners of Ramona Savings & Loan in Orange and North America Savings & Loan in Santa Ana before federal regulators could take action, and they uncovered evidence of fraud and theft. Executives at both defunct thrifts have been imprisoned for 15 years or longer for their roles in the collapse of their institutions.

Crawford and Davis also tried to persuade the state Department of Corporations in 1988 to block the sale of bonds by the parent company of Irvine-based Lincoln Savings & Loan. But the Corporations Department approved the bond sale, which resulted in thousands of small investors losing more than $250 million when the thrift and its parent company collapsed a year later.

Now, with thrift failures and with federal legislation rendering a state charter all but irrelevant, the Legislature is considering two bills that would eliminate the agency. One would abolish state charters for S&Ls; and the other would consolidate the agency with the Department of State Banking.

Davis’ chief deputy commissioner, Wallace Sumimoto, meantime, will take over as acting commissioner.