CAMDEN — By PATRIC FLANNIGAN
Sports editor
It’s not too often that a professional baseball player comes to Camden. It’s an even slimmer chance that said baseball player would even know where to find Camden, Arkansas on a map. However, this particular professional baseball player is a Camden product. Not only is Jonathan Davis a MLB athlete, but he proved Thursday during a visit with his alma mater that he is a man who cares deeply about seeing others from his hometown succeed and shared with them a few of the ideologies that he used to make his dreams come true.
Davis, the son of Bishop Jacovis and Iretha Davis visited with Camden Fairview students and teachers at the Camden Fairview Middle School and gave a power point presentation at the C.F.H.S. on Thursday. Davis - a 2010 graduate of C.F. and a former University of Central Arkansas Bear - spoke highly of his wife, Hannah, who helped him with the presentation. Before he began, he invited students down to the court for an entertaining dance contest.
Then he humbly shared his story.
Davis focused on three keys to success: Dream, believe and achieve.
Davis shared a slide with two different paths on it. One path showed a straight and easy path to a goal, and the other showed a path full of peaks, valleys, bridges and water. Davis talked about spending 6 years in the minor leagues hoping to get a call up to the majors one day. He said at times he wanted to give up. He suffered through injuries and hard times until it finally paid off last season. He was called up to join the Toronto Blue Jays and he even got a hit off of eventual World Series Championship pitcher David Price of the Boston Red Sox.
“Everyone wants it to be easy,” Davis said. “But God has a different plan for us. A better plan. I couldn’t stand here and know the things about life that I know if it was easy. I wouldn’t be the man I am today. I couldn’t stand here as a child and tell you how to accomplish your goals. I had to become a man. If we want to accomplish our goals, we have to go through some things some times. We have to learn how to sacrifice.”
Davis said it had always been his dream to play in the MLB and talked about how as a little child, he and his father would practice T-ball all the time. He also shared how he only weighed 155 pounds as a junior in high school where he also played football and knew he needed to put on more weight to be able to compete with other students. Davis worked out before school, during school and after school until he was in the shape it took for him to be productive on the field.
Davis also talked about how important it is to make good choices. He related to the students when he hilariously recounted a time when he through a party at his parents house when they weren’t home during his college days. When he woke up, he had to drive to pick his father up from the airport in Little Rock but was tired and got into a wreck on the way. He emphasized that there is nothing wrong with having a good time, “as long as it doesn’t take you away from your vision.”
Davis closed his speech powerfully by holding up a green jersey with “Camden” wrote on it that was from his childhood saying that was “where it all started.” Then he held up his Toronto Blue Jays jersey to symbolize the hard work and dedication being paid off and dreams coming true.
“This can be you. No, this will be you,” Davis said while holding up the jersey. “We are going to speak this into existence.”
Davis also gave all of the glory to God. He stated that he can’t take credit for all his has accomplished because there has been times when he would have give up. He told the students that parents and friends wont always be there to help you, but God will.
Davis will hold the first annual JD 3:21 Foundation Baseball Camp Jan. 12-13 at the CFHS Multi-purpose facility. For more details about the camp and Davis, visit jonathanrayshaddavis.com.