Mo’ne Davis, pitcher turned grad student Naima Green for The New York Times
Ten years ago she was the most celebrated pitcher on the planet, making history 46 feet from home plate. She and her bouncing braids were featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated when that was the most precious real estate in sports journalism. She won an ESPY, wrote a book, filmed a commercial directed by Spike Lee and did a spot on “The Tonight Show” with Jimmy Fallon, who bet her a Philly cheesesteak she couldn’t strike him out in a Wiffle Ball at-bat. (Fallon lost.) She even swung by the White House to visit with the Obamas.
Mo’ne Davis’ success in the Little League World Series was built on a 71-MPH fastball and a parabolic curveball, and her preternatural poise didn’t hurt, either. She was the ace pitcher for the Taney Dragons Little League team out of Center City Philadelphia, throwing a three-hit shutout in the Mid-Atlantic championship game to lead the Dragons to Williamsport, Pa., following that with a virtuoso performance in the opening game of the Little League World Series, shutting out South Nashville on two infield hits and eight strikeouts.
It made the 13-year-old Davis the first girl to win a game in the eight-decade history of the event, but then and now, she viewed the experience as much more than retiring kids with bats in their hands.
“I’ve learned that whatever I put my mind to, I can make it happen,” Davis told me. “The world is huge and there is so much space for everyone to do something great.”
Long after aging out of Little League, Davis’ pursuit of greatness has not faltered. She followed that memorable summer by excelling at Springside Chestnut Hill Academy, where she won an academic scholarship and starred in soccer, basketball and softball (she switched over from baseball in 10th grade) before enrolling at Hampton University, an H.B.C.U. on the coast of Virginia. Apart from playing Div. I softball, Davis studied journalism and communications, graduating with a 3.67 GPA – one of the principal reasons she earned a $125,000 scholarship and enrolled in Columbia University’s three-semester graduate sports management program.
Scott Rosner, the director of the Columbia program, said Davis’ LLWS fame had no bearing whatsoever in her admission, telling The New York Times, “She’s all in. She’s a front rower, literally. She is super engaged and doesn’t have any pretense or airs about her.”
Davis’ journey into the sports realm began in earnest with a serendipitous meeting with
Steve Bandura, the manager of the Taney Dragons and the founder of the Anderson Monarchs, an inner-city Philadelphia youth sports program with travel teams in soccer, basketball and baseball. Bandura was doing maintenance work on a ballfield when he saw the 7-year-old Davis throwing perfect spirals with a football in a schoolyard catch with her cousin. He asked her if she had any interest in joining the Monarchs and competing with and against boys, and after getting her mother’s approval, Davis joined the club, starring in all three sports.
“She was better in soccer and basketball than she was in baseball,” Bandura said. Bandura’s son, Scott, became her best friend and catcher, no matter that he was one of the smallest and slightest kids on the team. After a standout career at Princeton, Scott Bandura, now 6-feet, 4-inches and 190-pound outfielder, was drafted in the seventh round last year by the San Francisco Giants and is playing A ball in California. The old Dragons battery is doing alright.
During her spin in the celebrity spotlight as a middle-schooler, Davis didn’t just wow people with her arsenal of pitches, but with her quiet confidence and humility, even as she dominated opposing lineups. Believed to be the only African-American girl ever to compete in the LLWS, a kid who got the Taylor Swift treatment wherever she went in Williamsport in August 2014, Davis handled it with grace and almost unfathomable maturity.
“Here’s this inner-city African-American girl playing against white males, and it (never fazed her),” Steve Bandura said. “She brought this aura out there of being in complete control.”
Davis is finishing up her courses at Columbia and will get a master’s degree in August. If time permits, she may return to Williamsport to celebrate the 10th anniversary. After that she expects to take a little time off and figure out what career options appeal to her most. She is excited about the surge in interest in women’s sports in the last few years, and would love to contribute to it, whether as a TV commentator or in the front office of team or league, or perhaps, one day, as an owner.
“It’s crazy seeing how fast women's sports are growing in popularity and how much money the expansion teams are going for in soccer and basketball,” she said.
One thing Davis knows is that whatever direction she goes in, she wants to be “hands on,” and a game-changer. She thinks a WNBA franchise or a National Women’s Soccer League franchise would be a perfect fit in her hometown of Philadelphia. You might not want to bet a cheesesteak that she won’t find a way to pull it off.
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