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Jeff Davis

Abbeville High mourns loss of another teacher with passing of Coach Davis

The school year did not begin well for Abbeville High School nor did it end well.
At the end of August, when school was beginning, AHS teacher/head football coach Gary Adkins lost his short battle with cancer.
He had been at the school just under a year.
The faculty and students had to deal with that tragedy.
Then, right before the school year ended, Abbeville High lost another teacher/coach unexpectedly.
Abbeville High girls basketball coach /boys track coach Jeff Davis died due to a brain aneurism Davis passed away in a Lafayette hospital.
He was 61 years old.
Davis, who is from Chicago, leaves behind three children, Alex, Scott and Miranda
As of Monday, there is scheduled to be a celebration of life ceremony on Sunday but no more details are available.
Walters Funeral Home in Lafayette is handling the arrangements.
Davis coached basketball at almost every school in Vermilion Parish with the exception of Gueydan and Erath High.
His first basketball coaching job in the parish was at Vermilion Catholic High.
His final coaching jobs were the girls head basketball coach and the head boys track coach at Abbeville High.
Eliza Chambers was a senior on this year’s AHS basketball team.
“I never met a determined, arrogant, passionate coach in all my years of basketball,” said Chambers. “He knew how to get rid of my attitudes and problems. He always pushed me and the team to keep pushing and fighting that the game was not over yet. The smile and joy in has face when we overcame a defeat or gave it our all, was priceless. Our coach. My friend. My inspiration. You will be missed dearly.”
Davis’s basketball stat person was senior Inglyn Smith. She watched him from the scorer’s table for the last two years.
“Coach Davis was such a kind person that he would go out of his way to make sure all of his players had smile on their face,” said Smith, who just graduated. “He will definitely be missed, especially by the girls’ basketball team.”
AHS principal Ivy Landry has been knowing Davis for more than 20 years. There is one thing he loved more than anything, Landry said.
“He loved to compete and lived to learn more about coaching,” said Landry. “He worked numerous camps for many coaches. He was a sponge for coaching knowledge.”
He was able to save several lives through organ donation. In lieu of flowers the family asks for donations to be made to his chosen philanthropies- St. Jude’s and Special Olympics-, proving his gift for helping others is a part of his legacy.

Vermilion Today

Abbeville Meridional

318 N. Main St.
Abbeville, LA 70510
Phone: 337-893-4223
Fax: 337-898-9022

The Kaplan Herald

219 North Cushing Avenue
Kaplan, LA 70548

The Gueydan Journal

311 Main Street
Gueydan, LA 70542