LOCAL SIGNING: MA tennis star Davis headed to North Alabama
Montgomery Academy tennis coach David Bethea announces the signing of Whit Davis to North Alabama at a ceremony on Tuesday. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
After everything else Whit Davis accomplished in his high school tennis career, leave it to the Montgomery Academy senior to take care of his college plans as well.
Davis signed a letter of intent with North Alabama on Tuesday morning, completing a journey for the winningest Montgomery Academy tennis player in school history that started with his decision to recruit himself for the Lions.
“Last year in September, a friend of mine brought up North Alabama to me,” Davis said. “He said, ‘I think it’ll be a great place for you,’ so I went up there and visited with him and really liked the campus. That’s what gave me the idea that I wanted to play there, so I contacted the coach. Months went by, a lot of phone calls happened and eventually he just offered me. It was a long process, but it was worth it.”
Davis became the 14th Montgomery Academy boys’ tennis player to sign with a college and the eighth to sign with a Division I-A program. For the first boys’ tennis player to ever play in every classification (1A-7A) for the Alabama High School Athletic Association, it would seem as if Davis could have generated more interest at the larger Division I-A programs in the state, but Montgomery Academy coach David Bethea said his alma mater, North Alabama, was a good fit for Davis.
“I think this is a good place for him,” Bethea said. “It’s hard to get looked at by Alabama, Auburn and those types of teams. They sign a lot of overseas players. I actually think he’s going to be a better college player because he’s going to be playing every day with people better than him, so that’s going to make him better.”
A six-year starter for the Eagles, Davis broke into the varsity ranks as a seventh grader at No. 6 singles and gradually worked his way into the No. 1 spot the last two years as his tennis program went from 1A-3A to 4A-5A to 6A, with Davis winning an individual championship at each position.
He became one of only four MA players to ever crack the 100-win plateau and became the school’s career wins leader, compiling a 114-7 record in his career.
“I had never achieved a goal like that before,” Davis said. “I didn’t let it change how I played. It just felt good to achieve something like that, something no one has achieved before.”
Even after participating in the state tennis tournament earlier this month -- completing his high school tennis career -- he returned home and went back to the court to work on his game.
“He’s a guaranteed win,” Bethea said. “You have that confidence that he’s going to win, but he just works hard. People don’t see how hard he works. After our practice, he’s going to go find somebody to go hit with. After the state tournament (in Mobile), when we got back about 2:30 p.m, by 3:30 he had already found somebody to go hit with. He’s just that kind of guy.
“And I’ll say this: a lot of players at his level, they don’t play matches with their school team, they just play in the ‘big’ matches and come to sectionals and state, but he will never miss a school match for a tournament. And he never has.”
He was undefeated during the regular season, finishing with a singles record of 24-2 this year, including wins over Hoover, Mountain Brook, Homewood, 1A-3A state champion St. James, Trinity, Vestavia Hills, Florence, Auburn and 4A-5A state champion LAMP.
Maybe Davis could have ended up at a bigger collegiate program, but just as he entered Montgomery Academy in the seventh grade at No. 6 singles, he likes the idea of starting all over at North Alabama and working his way toward the top.
Honestly, it’s a lot better for me,” Davis reasoned. “It’ll push me a lot more. That’s kind of what I was looking for.”