Purdue Calumet’s Aaron Davis isn’t likely to be fazed by any adversity he faces on a basketball court.
The fifth-year senior already has overcome a bigger hurdle off the court.
“He’s unquestionably tough mentally,” PUC coach Dan Voudrie said of Davis, who has a 3.5 GPA and works in the PUC attendance office. “And I think he’s an inspiration for those who may know someone that’s had an unfortunate accident and has been shot or shot themselves.
“He’s the guy he is today because of his lifetime of experiences. There’s so much depth to who he is; he’s a byproduct of a whole lot of character.”
Davis, who helped guide Peoria Richwoods to a second-place finish in Illinois in his senior season, was shot three times on his last day of spring break his junior year during a botched robbery attempt.
“We didn’t have school that Monday and I dropped my mom off at work,” Davis said. “Then I opened the garage and the man tried to rob me. I didn’t have any money so he shot me three times.”
Davis was shot in the arm, stomach and leg and couldn’t play basketball from April to July. He returned to play in his team’s last summer game, but said he didn’t fully recover till December.
He also went through a mentally draining spell when he broke his shooting (right) wrist in January 2013 after trying to catch himself as he fell to the ground.
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Davis thought it was just a sprain and missed three practices before playing the rest of his junior season with the broken wrist.
Later, he had surgery and had to redshirt the 2013-14 season.
“Playing on it messed it up even worse,” said Davis, who didn’t know the severity of the injury. “But I sat out and rehabbed and came back. I couldn’t wait to start (this) season. I knew we had a lot of good players coming in.”
The Peregrines (15-14) drew a first-round bye in the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament and open postseason play at 7 p.m. Wednesday at St. Xavier (19-10).
Davis and the Peregrines must win three games to capture their first CCAC Tournament title and advance to the NAIA Division II National Tournament. It would be quite a feat for PUC, which has won six of its last nine — including a win at home over the Cougars.
“We’re starting to play better basketball,” said Davis, who is averaging 13 points, 4.7 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 2.3 steals. “We have a lot of confidence, but we know it’s going to be a tough game and it’s at their place. They are always a good team and are well-coached.”
But after what Davis has been through, he knows how to put a test like this into perspective.
Ryan Haskell is a freelance writer.