HOME OF THE BRAVES

Bobby Davis was only trying to get his coach’s phone number when he called Scott Doherty, his teammate on the Birmingham High football squad.

Instead he got a place to call home.

After a difficult relationship with his father, Davis, 18, decided last March to move out. But he wanted to stay in school at Birmingham.

Unless he could find a suitable home, Davis was headed back to Louisiana to live with his grandmother.

Davis, a talented linebacker and wingback, called Doherty, the Braves’ quarterback. Davis was hoping Coach Dave Lertzman could help him find a place to stay.

Lertzman never needed to assist because Doherty offered Davis a place at his house.

“We weren’t great friends,” Doherty said. “I did this at first to keep our best player here. But now we’re like brothers.”

Doherty and Davis, along with running back Emmanuel Evans, have been vital components for a team that is Birmingham’s best since it joined the Northwest Valley Conference in 1994.

Although Davis missed three games with a dislocated elbow, the Braves are in the thick of the conference race as they enter the critical stretch of their schedule.

Birmingham (5-1, 2-1 in conference play) plays once-beaten El Camino Real tonight at 7 at Canoga Park, then meets undefeated Taft next week.

Davis, 5 feet 11 and 205 pounds, is still recovering from the injury, but he’s moving back to his usual middle linebacker position after playing on the outside for two weeks.

Doherty has blossomed in his third year as the Braves’ quarterback. He has completed 52 of 96 passes for 836 yards and 13 touchdowns--three more than he had all last season.

Both players have made progress as seniors.

For Davis, the impact is most apparent off the field.

Davis’ difficult times started at 13 when his mother was killed in a train accident. Davis was reared by his grandmother, Verda Slack, for three years.

But Davis always had an eye for California, and his father. When he turned 16, Davis got his wish and came to Panorama City to live with his father, Bobby Sr.

“He had gotten over some problems with his mom, but I think he had an idea the grass would be greener on the other side,” Slack said.

On a team sorely lacking in experienced players, Davis--who played freshman and varsity football in Louisiana--made an impression on Lertzman. He was a two-way starter in his sophomore season.

Davis continued to grow and improve as a junior, drawing interest from several Division I schools, including Nebraska. But his family life was unstable.

Davis prefers not to elaborate on the problems he had with his father. He lived with the family of another teammate and with his girlfriend’s family at various times in the past two years.

In the meantime, Davis said he tried to maintain a relationship with his father. But last spring, he decided he’d had enough.

“I made the decision to go before my 18th birthday,” Davis said. “But I stayed to see if anything improved. It didn’t, and I decided to leave.”

Attempts to contact Bobby Davis Sr. for this story were unsuccessful.

With nowhere else to turn, Davis was trying to contact Lertzman when he talked to Doherty.

Doherty’s house has always been a popular spot for friends and teammates to gather after practice and games. Doherty figured this was just an extension of his hospitality.

“It wasn’t a problem with me, we had the extra room,” said Laura Doherty, Scott’s mother.

So Davis moved into the small three-bedroom house less than a mile from Birmingham, sharing a room with Doherty until this summer when Doherty’s brother got married and moved out.

Reaching out to Davis was important to Doherty because his own family life has been in an upheaval the past two years.

A grandmother Doherty was close to died on the eve of a football playoff game two years ago. Shortly after that, his parents separated. His father lives in Arizona.

Since moving in with the Dohertys, Davis has raised his grade-point average to 2.5. Doherty, a 4.0 student, helps keep him motivated.

Although he has not achieved a qualifying score on the Scholastic Assessment Test, Davis recently retook the test.

“Through all this the one thing I needed to keep me going was school,” Davis said. “I wanted to stay at Birmingham and play football and graduate. Neither my mom or my dad graduated from high school. That’s why [graduating] is so important to me.”

Not to mention college. Pacific 10 and Big 12 conference schools, who keep in weekly telephone contact with him, are still interested in Davis.

Davis said he didn’t speak to his father for several months after moving, but contact has been reestablished. Davis visited on his father’s birthday last month.

“It went well,” Davis said. “It was a party, so everybody was happy.”

By living in the same house, Doherty and Davis have developed a relationship more than that of teammates. Lertzman said they “fight like brothers” at times but it’s clear they depend on each other.

“We haven’t had it easy,” Doherty said. “There are plenty of kids coming from broken families who get into trouble. We’re trying to beat the odds.”