Biography

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William H. Davis was born on July 31, 1867, in Leicester, Massachusetts.

He graduated from the Secretarial Program of the International YMCA Training School, now Springfield College, in 1892.

While in Springfield, Davis was a skilled athlete. playing in the first game of basketball on Dec. 21, 1891, and a member of the school's 1892 championship team. He also played football, starring as the starting halfback on the infamous "Stagg's Eleven" team the Training School became well known for.

Davis spent his entire 27 year career in the service of the YMCA. He first worked as the General Secretary and Physical Director of the YMCA in Greenfield, Massachusetts, from 1892-1895.

He then moved onto the Assistant Secretary position at the YMCA in Bridgeport, Connecticut in 1895, before going to the YMCA Bedford Branch, Brooklyn, New York, where he served as General Secretary from 1902-1905.

From 1905 to 1908 Davis was the General Secretary at the YMCA in Portland, Maine.

He returned to his home state of Massachusetts, becoming the General Secretary of the North Adams branch (1908-1911) and Associate Secretary of the Cambridge branch (1911-1912).

Davis ended his long tenure with the Association in 1912, serving as the General Secretary in Waterbury, Connecticut before passing away in 1919 following a short illness.

Davis kept close ties to the Training School throughout his life and was a contributor to Alumni Hall, a dormitory on the Springfield College grounds built due to the generosity of the school's alumni.  

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