Bills RB Ray Davis fosters success throughout his history

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — At its core, even at the highest level, professional football is still just a game.

It’s a lesson Ray Davis had to remember in his first weeks and months as a rookie running back with the Buffalo Bills, keeping in mind everything he overcame to be here.

“You have to go out there and have fun,” Davis said after a practice during the team’s mandatory three-day minicamp. “If you try to do too much or put too much on your plate, you forget why you’re here. You forget that this is a dream you’re living.”

It’s a dream that took Davis a while to realize growing up in San Francisco, where his father was a local Pop Warner and high school football star.

“I played for my Pop Warner team, the SF Power Seahawks. My dad was like a living legend in the city. A lot of people knew him,” Davis said. “At the age of 9, I had to live up to his expectations, his standards in terms of being the guy for so many years, from his days at Pop Warner to his high school years. For I had the weight of the world on my shoulders at 9 years old when it came to football.”

The Weight of the World is a good way to describe Ray Davis’ childhood.

His mother was 15 when Ray was born. Both of his parents spent time in prison. Davis and his siblings found themselves in difficult situations.

“I didn’t really have a real relationship with my family members and my parents growing up in my early days, which led to me becoming a man at a very young age, at 12 years old,” Davis said.

As a child, he bounced from place to place, ending up in the foster care system for eight years. For a time, he and two of his siblings lived in a homeless shelter. When a host family only had room for two of them, he made the decision to go alone so that his younger sister and brother could stay together as a family.

“I had to prioritize their needs before meeting my own,” Davis said. “I feel like that’s when I became a parent, in a way. That’s when I feel like I became an adult where It didn’t matter what I wanted in life at that moment.”

How can a 12-year-old boy cope with this reality, taking care of his family when he is only a child himself?

“Every day I ask this question. I always ask how I got here. How did I get here?” Davis said. “But I think it all comes down to just understanding again that I wasn’t thinking like a child anymore at 12. I was thinking like an adult.”

In high school, Davis lived with his teachers, pushing himself in sports while finally finding some stability in his life.

He went to boarding school, followed by college where he played at three different schools: Temple, Vanderbilt and Kentucky.

The Buffalo Bills selected him in the 4th round of the 2024 NFL Draft.

“It still doesn’t seem real, but every day I walk on this field I try to enjoy the moment and say to myself, ‘I’m here, I don’t know how long I’m going to be here.’ , so accept it now and have fun,” he said.

Davis also embraced the foster care community in hopes of becoming a beacon of light for children facing dark times like him.

Almost immediately after the bills were drafted, he connected with the organization Fostering Greatness in Buffalo, which recently held a drive to collect luggage, clothing and other items for children in foster care. welcome.

Davis was there to provide support and share his story, with the intention of continuing to work to help people like him.

“I want to be able to inspire young people who have experienced the same things as me,” he said. “Being a former foster home student and going through the things that I’ve been through and knowing the voice that I have and being able to go out there and just be an advocate for kids who don’t have no voice, to be able to be in inspiration, but let them know that this is a reality that you can achieve.

Ray Davis did it.

“You have to bet on yourself. I think for me, I had to bet on myself when it came to going to three different colleges. I had to bet on myself understanding that the road was not going to be easy,” Davis said he offered advice to those in situations similar to his. “Being able to live up to your own expectations rather than those of others.

“That’s when you have a clear mind. That’s when you know right from wrong. That’s when you understand that you’re having fun doing the things you love.”

A man playing a child’s game – and a man since he was a child.