By R.L. Bynum

Carolina lost one of its legendary players Thursday morning with the passing of Walter Davis.

Affectionately known as “Sweet D” during his time at Carolina for his sweet, pure jump shot, Davis died of natural causes while visiting family in Charlotte.

The uncle of UNC coach Hubert Davis, he was a Tar Heels star in the mid-1970s and a member of the gold-medal-winning 1976 United States Olympic team that Dean Smith coached.

UNC teammate Phil Ford knew Davis, who was 69, for 50 years, ever since they met when Ford was a senior in high school, and they were best friends.

“He loved me, and I loved him. He was a great, great, great guy that happened to be a great basketball player,” said Ford, who was the 1975 ACC tournament MVP, but contends the award should have gone to Davis, who did an excellent job guarding N.C. State’s David Thompson in the championship game. “I am going to miss him dearly. I’m happy I got to see him a couple of weeks ago in Chapel Hill, but this is very hard. I would like to believe he’s in a better place right now, but I’m going to dearly miss my friend.”

Walter Davis puts up the buzzer-beating, 25-foot bank shot to tie Duke at the regulation buzzer in 1974 at Carmichael Auditorium. The Tar Heels won in overtime.

If there is a moment Davis is most remembered for, it was his 25-foot bank shot at the regulation buzzer against Duke in Carmichael Auditorium to cap an eight-point comeback in the final 17 seconds during his freshman season. The Tar Heels went on to win 96–92 in overtime, and that shot is part of Carolina basketball lore.

Above, Walter Davis drives to the basket during Carolina’s 84-83 victory over UNLV in a 1977 national semifinal at Atlanta’s Omni. Below, Davis makes a pass two days later when UNC lost 67-59 to Marquette in the NCAA final.

“This is a sad, sad day with the passing of Walter Davis, one of our all-time great basketball players and an even nicer person,” Roy Williams said. “Coach Smith and Coach [Bill] Guthridge used to rave about how much fun it was to coach Walter. I got to watch him as a fan and loved getting to know him later.”

Davis, a Pineville native who was one of the best shooters in program history, is a member of the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame, twice was All-ACC (1976 and 1977), and led the Tar Heels to the 1977 ACC Tournament title and appearance in the 1977 NCAA championship game.

Davis collected 1,863 points, 670 rebounds and 409 assists in his Carolina career.

The Phoenix Suns picked Davis in the first round as the fifth overall pick in the 1977 draft. He quickly rewarded them by averaging 24.2 points per game and winning the NBA Rookie of the Year award.

Davis was a six-time NBA All-Star (1978 through 1981, 1984 and 1987), and the No. 6 Suns jersey he wore is retired. Davis was nicknamed the “Greyhound” during his NBA career because he was fast and his physical appearance was sleek. He was also called “The Candyman” and “The Man with the Velvet Touch.”

In his NBA career, Davis had 19,521 points, 3,878 assists and 1,280 steals.

Davis set an NBA record on Feb. 25, 1983, when he scored his first 34 points without missing a shot. He made his first 15 shots and all four free-throw attempts before missing a jumper with 55 seconds left. Larry Costello of the Syracuse Nationals set the previous mark in 1961 by scoring his first 32 points without missing. Davis finished with 36 points in the 106–101 win over Seattle in the Kingdome.

Davis lost only four games during his high school career, leading South Mecklenburg High School to three state titles.

Above, Walter Davis, right, shares a moment with James Worthy and Michael Jordan. Below is a team picture from the 1974 United States gold-medal-winning Olympic team. Davis is on the first row and is the player on the far left, with Phil Ford on the far right. The player at the far left on the second row is Mitch Kupchak, with Tommy LaGuarde to his right. Head coach Dean Smith is on the far left, with assistant coach Bill Guthridge to his right.

Walter Davis’ Carolina statistics

Class	G	FG	FGA	FG%	FT	FTA	FT%	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	PF	PTS
FR	27	6	11.9	0.5	2.4	3	0.793	4.7	2.7			1.6	14.3
SO	31	6.5	12.8	0.505	3.2	4.2	0.754	6.3	4.4			2.8	16.1
JR	29	6.6	12.1	0.541	3.5	4.5	0.777	5.7	3.3	2.4	0.6	2.9	16.6
SR	32	6.3	11	0.578	2.8	3.7	0.778	5.7	3.3	2.4	0.7	3.3	15.5
	119	6.3	11.9	0.531	3	3.9	0.773	5.6	3.4	2.4	0.6	2.7	15.7

Walter Davis’ NBA career

Season	Tm	G	MP	FG%	3P%	FT%	REB	AST	STL	PTS
77-78	PHO	81	32	0.526		0.83	6	3.4	1.4	24.2
78-79	PHO	79	30.8	0.561		0.831	4.7	4.3	1.9	23.6
79-80	PHO	75	30.8	0.563	0	0.819	3.6	4.5	1.5	21.5
80-81	PHO	78	28	0.539	0.412	0.836	2.6	3.9	1.2	18
81-82	PHO	55	21.5	0.523	0.188	0.82	1.9	2.9	0.8	14.4
82-83	PHO	80	31.1	0.516	0.304	0.818	2.5	5	1.5	19
83-84	PHO	78	32.6	0.512	0.23	0.863	2.6	5.5	1.4	20
84-85	PHO	23	24.8	0.45	0.3	0.877	1.5	4.3	0.8	15
85-68	PHO	70	32	0.485	0.237	0.843	2.9	5.2	1.4	21.8
86-87	PHO	79	33.5	0.514	0.259	0.862	3.1	4.6	1.2	23.6
87-88	PHO	68	28.7	0.473	0.375	0.887	2.3	4.1	1.3	17.9
88-89	DEN	81	22.9	0.498	0.29	0.879	1.9	2.3	0.9	15.6
89-90	DEN	69	23.7	0.481	0.13	0.912	2.6	2.2	0.9	17.5
90-91	TOT	71	20.9	0.468	0.306	0.915	2.5	1.8	1.1	13
90-91	DEN	39	26.8	0.474	0.303	0.915	3.2	2.2	1.6	18.7
90-91	POR	32	13.7	0.446	0.333	0.913	1.8	1.3	0.6	6.1
91-92	DEN	46	16.1	0.459	0.313	0.872	1.5	1.5	0.6	9.9
Career		1033	27.9	0.511		0.851	3	3.8	1.2	18.9