2 weeks Ago By Phil Hicks
Raymond Davis, who tossed six touchdown passes in one game while playing for Tyler's Emmett J. Scott High School, will be inducted into the Tyler ISD Athletics Hall of Fame on Friday in the Rose City. Davis, who started all four years at different positions for the Bulldogs, will join the Hall of Fame during a ceremony at the halftime of Lufkin vs.
Tyler football game at Christus Trinity Mother Frances Rose Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
on Earl Campbell Field. On a Saturday night in October 1959, Emmett Scott celebrated homecoming with a 48-20 win over the Texarkana Dunbar Buffaloes at Rose Stadium. Davis was on fire, throwing six TD passes, along with tossing two two-point conversion passes.
After a three-yard TD run by Leon Hayter, it became the Davis Show. Davis threw touchdown passes of 30 and 1 to right halfback Emmett Hill, 46 to right end Jersey Adams, 30 and 35 to left end Alvin Murphy, and 15 to Quincy Beavers. He also tossed two-point conversion passes to fullback John Starks and Adams.
It is believed to be a Rose Stadium record, although no official records are kept. Davis was also the first Black starting quarterback at Rose Stadium, a facility that dates back to 1946. He played linebacker his freshman year (1956) and defensive back his final three seasons (1957-59).
Offensively, he started out at halfback before moving to quarterback. Emmett Scott was part of the Prairie View Interscholastic League. After his high school graduation in 1960, he joined the Air Force.
After his military service, Davis moved to Los Angeles and began a career at Southern Pacific Transportation Company. He worked as conductor and later on the business side of the railroad organization. Davis played football during his military service and also semi-pro ball in Tacoma, Washington.
According to the Smith County Historical Society, Emmet J. Scott High School served as one of Smith County’s all-black high schools from 1949 to 1970. The original school, which served first through tenth grades, opened in 1888 and had just four classrooms.
The original school burned down in 1921, rebuilt in 1923 and named Emmett Scott Junior High. Scott Junior High served elementary and secondary students until 1949 when Emmett J. Scott High School opened with 26 classrooms.
The new school had an auditorium, band hall, gymnasium, administrative suites, and a shop. The school closed in 1970 after a federal court ordered all Tyler schools to integrate. This is the 10th year for the Tyler ISD Athletics Hall of Fame, which includes athletes from Tyler High, Tyler Legacy High School, Emmett Scott High School, John Tyler High School and Robert E.
Lee High School. Last week, former Tyler Lee baseball player Jarrod Bitter was inducted during the Marshall-Tyler Legacy football game. To nominate someone for the Tyler ISD Athletics Hall of Fame go to https://athletics.
tylerisd.org and click on Hall of Fame..
