Normally speaking, the set of a television show is a bad place to suddenly be speechless.
But former Baylor All-American Nina Davis had a good excuse a few months ago when she got a phone call from Lady Bears assistant coach Johnny Derrick, who told her the program was retiring her jersey.
“I was at the studio at the time and I got a phone call from (Johnny Derrick) and I literally just froze for a second,” Davis said. “He was like ‘Hello? Are you still there?’ I was like, ‘I’m still here. I’m just trying to figure out how to respond to this. It doesn’t feel real.’ But it just means a lot and I’m definitely honored.”
Davis’ moment came during pregame on Saturday night as Baylor coach Kim Mulkey unveiled her No. 13 following a video of some of the star forward’s career highlights.
Davis finished her Baylor career with 2,433 points and 1,074 rebounds. She’s fifth on Baylor’s all-time list in career scoring and rebounds.
On Friday, current Baylor players DiDi Richards and Trinity Oliver praised Davis’ tenacity. But her career stats show how unselfish a player she was. Her numbers dipped slightly during her junior and senior seasons when forwards Kalani Brown and Lauren Cox came into the program.
“You want to leave a place better than it was,” Davis said. “I was able to take Kalani and Lauren under my wing. I always knew that someone was watching me. So if it was rebounding hard, making plays when it mattered most, whatever it was, I was glad I was able to inspire those guys.”
Davis attended the Lady Bears’ national championship game last spring and celebrated with the team on the court after their 82-81 victory over Notre Dame in the title game.
While Davis is establishing a career as a TV personality, she said she also cherishes the mentorship role she had for the Lady Bears stars that came after her.
“Just to be able to have (Brown and Cox) under my wing and to look at where their careers are now definitely makes me a proud big sister,” Davis said.
Davis joined Suzie Snider Eppers, Sheila Lambert, Melissa Jones, Sophia Young and Odyssey Sims as former Lady Bears who have had their jerseys retired by the program.
— WACOTRIB