Florissant, MO — Carey Davis won a Big Ten championship at Illinois.
He played in the NFL for six years, winning a Super Bowl with the Steelers. However, it's possible his most proud accomplishment is at his current endeavor, head coach of the Hazelwood Central Hawks.
“It’s exciting for these guys, it’s exciting for me being a first year head coach," said Davis.
Davis is back at his alma mater where he last played for the Hawks in 1999.
What makes this job even more special? Davis is the first African-American head football coach in the school's history.
“I did not know that," said Davis, acknowledging he had no idea of the benchmark when accepting the job earlier this year.
“It is a pretty cool thing to be the first African-American head coach here at Hazelwood Central. It’s exciting for me. I’m glad to be back at my alma mater," he said.
Leading up to his first game against DeSmet this Friday, Davis had one word on his players' practice t-shirts.
"Mecca."
“It’s kinda what we are, who we are. I think when you think of high school football in the state of Missouri one of the top three schools you think of is Hazelwoood Central, so in my opinion it’s the top," said Davis.
For his team, 'Mecca' is their living mantra.
“I believe we can be the Mecca every year, but like I said, we have to take care of our responsibility day by day and not worry about things we have no control over," said Davis.
The most important thing for Davis during his tenure as head football coach is insuring his players are successful off the field as much as they are off it.
“We want to get kids in school for free," said Davis. "Whether that be academically or athletically, that’s our goal here. If we can get all 100 some-all of these kids in school for free then we’ve done our job and we started their lives off in a great way.”
“I’m just excited to be back to help these young men achieve everything that they want in life.”
