Athletic greatness comes in all shapes and all sizes.

It doesn't come naturally, but is achieved from hard work diligence and adversity along the journey.

There's opportunity and there's always struggle.

There is triumph and there is defeat.

And there is always a story behind the glory.

lined along the walls of the LSU Football Administration building are the names of great athletes that have worn the purple and gold.

Fans who follow the LSU Tigers and Southeastern Conference football in the mid to late eighties will always remember the name Wendell Davis.

'To the endzone, touchdown Wendell Davis!█ He was the type of athlete that if you put him in a position he was going to excel at that position.

Wendell was really the kind of forefather of receivers in this in this conference.

He was the first guy that really put up those sorts of numbers.

Touchdown to Wendell Davis.

Hey, Wendell, welcome to the Natchitoches, Such a pleasure to see you.

Same here.

Have a seat.

Already, I see your famous smile.

I mean, people tell me throughout your career whether you were having a great day, a poor day had just suffered two knee injuries on the same play.

You were still smiling.

Yeah.

Trademark.

Trademark.

My mother had a great smile.

And I guess you pass it on to me.

Yeah.

Tell me about the way the game has evolved.

Tommy Hodson told me that you ran the best routes of anybody he ever threw the ball to, which is quite a compliment.

Yeah, and I know they listed you at 6█1" or 6█2" and 200 lbs, and you're not that big and you're not as fast as they listed, but you got open consistently.

Yeah.

You know, your nickname could have been Waffle House.

Always open.

Always open.

man.

No, I was not the biggest, the fastest, the strongest.

But I would say I. I thought I worked hard.

I had a work ethic, and that came from my dad and that I worked hard at everything that I did.

So I knew I had to do something to to set myself apart.

And that was running routes and being disciplined in my route running.

I had a great coach at the time, Coach Jerry Sullivan, who taught me how to run routes or to taught me that you must look, make every route look the same coming off the ball, just receiver, talk, coach talk, but make all of it look the same and be disciplined in your routes in and be consistent.

And so I pride myself in that.

And that kind of separated me from the from the pack, from Shreveport Fair Park High School to All-America status at LSU to a first round NFL selection, Davis excelled in receiving and then doing something with the football.

Once he caught it and you couldn't catch him and you kept wondering he may not want any track meets, but when he had the ball in his hand, he was the fastest guy on the field.

There's something about him.

He had that little extra something when the ball was in play that that it really made a difference.

Flea flicker of hearts and throw his way down the field to Wendell Davis open at the six, touchdown LSU his route so good he created separation of the break.

So he was easy to throw to he was always open and he was singled up.

So it made my job a lot easier.

A little here.

Wind down.

Davis runs a corner pattern.

The ball comes over his opposite shoulder and he falls away from the ball and still has to make the catch.

And it was really catapulted me was I work with Tommy Hodson alot in the offseason and we developed this chemistry in the off season and, you know, we just hope that it translated over into to the real season and it did.

And when it did, I mean it just took off from there and but it was put in place by the coaches there and it started with Eric Martin and Herman Fontenot and all those guys kind of built the foundation.

And then you had me and Roger McGee, Tony Moss, Todd Kitchen, those guys come in and, you know, just kept going.

And now, you know, we got receivers, you know, every year we keep putting out good receivers, great receivers.

Hodson To throw Wendell Davis also close that pass catching from quarterback Tommy Hudson and then the ability to record the yards after the catch in the mid 1980s helped him set most of LSU's school marks including single season yards over 1200 touchdowns 11 and yards per game 113.

You catch them all of this throw it around all my go ultimately they always these is the man that guy was so good you just throw it eight feet six feet or four feet throw it in a dirty go dig it out.

And and that was true.

So he made me look good.

A lot of times.

And even though injuries ended his NFL career early, there is nothing that can take away what he accomplished.

Second and 10 goal of throwing from the end zone.

Touchdown, Wendell Davis Well, it was his route running and most of all, it was his exceptional hands.

He could catch a ball just about anywhere if it was under thrown, overthrown play action around back at home.

He needs a deep down not going for him.

Touchdown!

how has the the wide receiver game evolved since the time you were starring at LSU and in the National Football League?

That was then.

This is now.

How much how much does that position change and the expectations?

Yeah, Yeah.

Well first of all the the precision the the player right, receiver player itself himself has changed, evolved over time.

I remember Carmichael.

Carmichael was probably the tallest receiver I've ever encountered right back then.

But now you see guys, they are truly six for two toe running, you know, for three for four.

So it had evolved in that way.

But also the game has changed a little bit, you know, And I see guys that get more creative and they get to hone their craft a little better, more personal.

Yeah.

So with the game that sticks out in everybody's mind, unfortunately involving you, I was watching it.

Yeah, I was in pain when I saw you in pain.

And if I recall correctly, it was at Philadelphia on the old style artificial surface.

Very, very slippery.

Not nearly as good as what's available today.

And you were running a pretty simple route, and all of a sudden you make a cut, both knees collapse down.

You went and in a catastrophic injury.

What happened and why?

Well, I can tell you what happened, Why it happened, Not sure.

But, you know, I think it might have something to do with the turf, but it was just a basic routine route.

It was a post pattern.

And I run this route all the time.

And my I got open the ball was thrown a little, little short.

Jim Harbaugh was the quarterback at the time.

Ball was thrown a little short.

So I slowed up to position myself and when I slowed up and I went to jump, my feet just never left the ground.

And all of a sudden my feet popped out in front of me and when I hit the ground, I felt this pain.

And I've had knee injuries before.

But this was a little different because it was in both knees.

And I was saying to myself, this just I don't think I really blew out both knees, you know?

But soon the trainer came out and the first question was, which knee is it?

And I said, both.

And he was like, You're kidding me.

And sure enough, he pulled the knee.

You weren't in a mood to tell a joke at that time.

no, this is serious.

Yeah.

And, you know, he pulled the the knee pads up and just showed my my knees pretty much disappear, the kneecaps disappear kind of up into thigh area a little bit.

And he was like, shaking his head.

He's like, Yeah, you look like you've done it to both.

And, and at that time it was, you know, the pain was you got a matching set of scars, right?

There you go.

There you go.

And, you know, and it's, you know, it's one of those things that it was tough going through it.

But I like to tell people that I, I became a better person coming through that.

And a lot of the reason was because I had family around me and helped me get through a tough spot.

But, you know, it's it's part of the game.

It was a risk that I took, a risk that I took.

You take that risk when you're playing professional sports and you know your numbers in college were so impressive and so were they in the NFL.

And I think people kind of forget because of your injury and the struggles to get back to your former health in the NFL.

But but when you look back over your career, you can compare yours with just about anybody's.

And they're very similar.

They're very even the impact that you had in college, the impact you had in the NFL, in my mind as a football fan, still lives today.

And I hope you take some pleasure in that, you know.

Yeah, I do.

But sometimes it's hard for me to believe, you know, especially and and at LSU at the college level.

Wow.

Where you got people like Chase and Jefferson and Odell Beckham and these guys come in and I mean, they breaking all kind of records and, you know, and everybody says, you know, you still hold a record.

I'm like, I thought that record was broken.

They like, no, you still hold the record for receptions.

I think.

I think that's the one.

And they say, no, you still hold that record.

So it kind of, you know, kind of takes me back sometimes and helped me realize that, well, we probably didn't do something special there.

In the decade since, LSU fans have seen a rise in the number of wide receivers who excelled at their position as a tiger.

Many LSU fans believe Davis was the forefather of the modern day pass catcher, which is why the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame added him to their elite list in 2023.

Well, I am happy that kids and people around the state kind of get to relive this career again, and it's well-deserved.

This is such a is a super guy today Wendell Davis calls Illinois home, but he is always proud of his Louisiana roots and his athletic legacy in our state.

Having you here brings back so many fond memories.

Congratulations to a most well-deserved induction into the 2023 Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

It means a lot to me.

When I first found out, I was shocked.

But then I started thinking about my years in Louisiana.

And when it started for me, I'm thinking about back to the Boys and Girls Club.

I'm thinking about my first coach.

I'm thinking about playing in middle school.

I'm thinking about playing at my high school Fair Park High School in Shreveport.

I'm thinking about LSU.

All those things just came rushing back and it's like a combination of things.

And, you know, I just feel honored to be in this class.