Whatever the Davises’ relationship, it’s guaranteed to be a successful one
By BOB DECKER
Edgar and Evan Davis have this father-son, coach-player business down pat.
Except for one thing.
“I can’t get him to call me ‘coach,'” said a grinning Edgar, the father and coach, while sitting in the comfort of his Morris Township home’s kitchen last Friday afternoon. “I know he tries, but it still comes out ‘Dad’ when he talks to me on the field.”
Evan, 15, the son and player, sat across the table from his father, nodding his head and laughing in agreement.
“In some ways he’s my coach out there,” said Evan. “But he is always my father and that’s why I always call him ‘Dad’ on the field.”
While the father-son relationship is thriving, the coach-player situation has been put on hold. Last Thursday night in Millville, the Morristown Babe Ruth League 13-15 All-Stars, with Edgar as an assistant coach to manager Ray Mosso and Evan in the outfield, was eliminated from the Middle Atlantic Regional Tournament by Prince Georges, Md.
Edgar also coached and Evan also played for Mosso’s Allied team during the regular season in the Morristown Babe Ruth League.
While Edgar is looking forward to a “rest … it was not been an off summer,” Evan has more baseball ahead of him, playing for Newark’s Iron Bound team in the upcoming Goodwill Games and for the Morristown entry in Fall Ball, a league that will run until late October.
Looking for a new team
Next year, after Evan completes his junior year at Morristown High School, Edgar hopes to have a Senior Babe Ruth (16-18-year-old) team in place in Morristown.
“I’ll coach for sure and maybe manage,” is the way Edgar puts it. “These kids have been playing together for some time now and I would like to see them have more opportunities to play together.”
Of course, that puts the Davises back into another father-coach-son-player situation, but it’s a situation that both enjoy.
Edgar likes it because it has given him an opportunity to watch his son mature outside the home for the past six years. Evan likes it because (and he is first to admit that when he listens to his father, the coach, “… I do better.”
“I like it that he is there and I do try to listen to him,” said Evan. “He gets on me right on the spot, he notices what I am doing wrong and corrects me immediately.”
Edgar threw back his head and laughed when he heard his son say that he “tried” to listen to him then nodded his head vigorously when his son mentioned that he gets corrected quickly.
“Yes, I do tend to get on him more than the other kids,” said Edgar. “And I will correct him immediately. With the others, I will wait and take them aside.
“And, yes,” said Edgar, answering a question that had yet to be asked, “I do push my son harder.”
“When things are going bad with Evan, there are times when he thinks I am getting on him when I try to coach him. I try to let Ray handle him in those situations, but I can’t do it all the time. When things are going good for Evan and I mention something to him, he is all ears.”
“I expect my father to be tougher with me and no, I don’t resent it,” said Evan. “I would rather have him coaching me than not coaching me.”
Edgar and Evan have been dealing with the father-son, coach-player situation ever since Evan has been playing Little League baseball.
Reward enough
Edgar not only relishes the opportunity to work with Evan and watch him grow on and off the field, he also likes Evan’s teammates and the attitudes they bring to the game.
“Watching Evan and his friends improve their skills is rewarding, sure,” explained Edgar, “but watching them grow up and seeing them deal with challenges on and…
…off the field is also important to me—as a father and a coach.
“I truly feel that these players get more emotional as they get older,” added Edgar. “They were certainly emotional for the regional tournament. Maybe too emotional.”
Edgar was the manager of many of these same All-Stars two years ago when he guided them to a third-place finish in the regional tournament, being eliminated by the Delaware All-Stars.
“In some ways, beating Delaware this year became a primary goal,” said Edgar. “And when we did beat them, I thought we celebrated too much. The kids were real high after that win, too high. It was impossible to come down from that and then get right back up again for the Maryland team.”
Morristown, which had entered the regionals with a 7-0 tournament record, won three of five games in Millville, losing both games to Maryland. The regional title puts Maryland in the Babe Ruth League World Series starting Saturday in Longview, Wash.
“That was our main goal, to get into the World Series. The kids liked to say we were ‘in it to win it,'” said Edgar. “But we finished second, which means we are in the top 16 in the country. And that’s quite an accomplishment.
“These kids play well together, they are friends and they actually like each other. They deserve to be able to continue to play,” added Edgar. “They had a good year—a very good year.”
And this is why Edgar will soon start looking for sponsors for next year’s Senior Babe Ruth League team.
It is a team that will have Edgar Davis as either its manager or coach and Evan Davis playing outfield—for his dad.
