Hall of Fame
Dexter Davis came to Azusa Pacific in the fall of 1995 via Long Beach City College with the intention to play baseball for two seasons, which he did quite well, batting over .320 while patrolling centerfield for the Cougars. What he didn’t plan on, however, was returning to his first love – football – and leaving four seasons later as a national champion and NAIA First Team All-American. After a two-year layoff from football, Davis came back to the game at Azusa Pacific and appeared in 35 games between 1995 and 1998, starting the final 33 in a row. He finished as one of the best and arguably the most dynamic receivers in APU history, tallying 183 catches for 2,478 (13.5 avg.) and 23 TDs, numbers that rank second only to APU Hall of Famer Paul Nath (1978-81). As a 1997 junior, he became Azusa Pacific’s first-ever 1,000-yard receiver, setting school records with 71 receptions for 1,012 yards (7.9 rec/game was second in the NAIA) and was named NAIA All-America first team. He repeated as a first-team All-American in 1998 (joining Hall of Famers Christian Okoye and Ross Ritter as the only two-time first team All-Americans in football) while leading the Cougars to an unexpected and first-ever NAIA national championship. He broke his own school single-season records with 95 catches in 14 games for 1,187 yards (12.3 yards/rec) and 15 TDs. His best individual game may have come in the Cougars’ 42-22 victory over La Verne in which he had 8 receptions for a school-records of 238 yards and 4 TDs. He had TD grabs of 92 (school record) and 88 yards. However, his most significant catch did not include a TD. In the NAIA semi-final game vs. Huron, with the Cougars trailing 24-23 and less than 2 minutes left in the game, the Cougars wer facing a fourth-and-7 situation from their own 38-yard line. Davis caught a wide-receiver screen pass, raced sideways across the field to beat his defender to the corner, and then turned up-field for a 27-yard gain and a first down that led to the eventual game-winning field goal. Two weeks later, APU beat Olivet Nazarene University, 17-14, and Davis and his Cougars were crowned NAIA champions. A former Long Beach Jordan High School standout, Davis set six APU school records, including averaging 25.7 yards over 42 kickoff returns.
Dexter Davis at Azusa Pacific (1995-98)
---Kickoff Returns--- ---Punt Returns--
Year G-GS Rec Yds Avg TD LG No Yrds Avg TD LG No Yrds Avg LG
1995 2-0 0 0 - 0 - 0 0 - 0 - 0 0 - -
1996 9-8 17 279 16.4 3 62 4 84 21.0 0 33 0 0 - -
1997 9-9 71 1012 14.3 5 57 18 511 28.4 2 97 10 72 7.2 26
1998 14-13 95 1187 12.5 15 91 20 484 24.2 0 68 20 179 8.9 24
Career 34-30 183 2478 13.5 23 91 42 1079 25.7 2 97 30 251 8.4 26
