Before Clara Russell became Cummings’ first individual state champion in track and field nearly four decades ago, she had an appreciation for Donnie Davis.
The man who would become the coach at Cummings had already made a difference in her life.
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“I tell him to this day, ’You saved me,’ ” the woman, now known as Clara Stanfield, said recently.
“We’ve gotten to the point where we kind of know what to do or how to do things in order to grow athletes within it. We don’t do things the same as other people. For one thing, we only practice basically three days a week. And we don’t ever practice beyond an hour a day. But the things that we do within that hour leads to them being able to do four events at a state championship or be able to perform.”
– Cummings track and field coach Donnie Davis
Davis has been the coach or assistant coach with the Cummings program for 39 years, often grooming Burlington-area youngsters in track and field at early ages.
That was the case with Stanfield, who said she would walk to Davis’ house so she could tag along to youth-team practices. She said she was depressed as a middle school student, but Davis’ interest made a difference.
“He made sure I got to any practices,” she said. “He would take me anywhere with the team.”
From some of those early roots, Davis helped set the foundation for the Cummings program.
Davis was named the Male Coach of the Year by the North Carolina High School Athletic Association earlier this month. This came 10 years after he became an NCHSAA Hall of Famer. That’s on top of national recognitions.
“To get it 10 years after I’ve been inducted into the Hall of Fame, they haven’t forgotten about me,” Davis said. “This is different. This is the first time I won this one.”
During the past school year, Davis, 76, directed the Cummings’ girls’ team to state championships during the indoor and outdoor seasons.
Stanfield, now a coach at Broadview Middle School, won the first individual state championship under Davis’ watch by capturing the 400 meters in 1987. She also was the anchor for the winning 1,600 relay.
Since then, the Cavaliers have been winning team championships at an astounding rate.
Longtime Cummings Track and Field Coach Donnie Davis (from an earlier year)
“It’s really mind-boggling that we won 36 state championships in 39 years, that’s including three the boys won. But what people fail to realize, we finished second 18 times. So that’s 54 times in the last 39 years that we finished either first or second.
“We’ve had a state champion in the hurdles in 28 out of the past 30 years.”
– Cummings track and field coach Donnie Davis
“It’s really mind-boggling that we won 36 state championships in 39 years, that’s including three the boys won,” Davis said. “But what people fail to realize, we finished second 18 times. So that’s 54 times in the last 39 years that we finished either first or second.”
Davis takes pride in those achievements, noting the special moments for Cummings athletes who’ve participated in those.
“It’s hard to go through classes and not be on a state championship team,” he said. “If you come in as a freshman and you do what you’re supposed to do, there’s a good chance that you’re going to be on a state championship team.”
Times have changed since Stanfield won. Now, teams and individuals often receive championship rings from the schools or booster clubs. Not long ago, Davis made sure that Stanfield had a ring recognizing her state title.
As for team practices, Davis doesn’t change the formula.
“We’ve gotten to the point where we kind of know what to do or how to do things in order to grow athletes within it,” he said. “We don’t do things the same as other people. For one thing, we only practice basically three days a week. And we don’t ever practice beyond an hour a day. But the things that we do within that hour leads to them being able to do four events at a state championship or be able to perform.”
Davis-coached athletes have long excelled in jumping events and hurdles. He said all team members go through long jumping drills each Thursday.
“We try to expose everybody to everything and then let that be the determining factor as to what they do,” Davis said. “In track and field, the event chooses you. So we want to make certain that we expose them to everything.”
Yet the hurdles have been a priority.
“We’ve had a state champion in the hurdles in 28 out of the past 30 years,” Davis said.
Davis said the hand-me-down approach among Cummings track and field athletes is a boost for the program.
“I don’t have to tell them what to do or how to do it,” he said.
D’Anna Cotton of Cummings concluded her star-studded high school career this spring by pushing her state-record total to 24 individual state championships. Several other Cavaliers collected medals at this year’s state meets.
Davis is ready for more and what comes next.
“It’s always somebody new who’s going to come through,” he said.
