Event Detail

Carl "Chugger" Davis (1932)

Carl “Chugger” Davis was a coach and member of Cortland's physical education faculty at Cortland from 1932 until 1965. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in 1926 from Southwest State Teachers College in Missouri and his Master’s Degree in 1932 from Springfield College in Massachusetts. Chugger’s first appointment was at Catawba College in North Carolina where he served four years before moving to Cortland in 1932. Carl Davis earned the nickname “Chugger” because he would tell his players to “keep chugging” at practices. Davis spent twenty-eight years coaching football at Cortland. Between 1932 and 1936, his team suffered only two losses. Of his time as football coach, he had an impressive combined record of 105-66-17. In addition to football, Davis coached baseball for 20 years with a 135-62 record, basketball for 10 years with an 86-71 record, and golf from 1958-65. Chugger stepped down as football coach in 1963, but he kept teaching until 1965. When Davis retired, Director of HPER Dr. Ross Allen stated, “’Chugger’s’ greatest testimonial is the high esteem and respect in which he is held by the hundreds of students he has coached and by his colleagues in the profession. His popularity among alumni is enviable – in fact, ‘Chugger’ and Cortland State have become synonymous.” His popularity extended into the community, and he even considered a run for Mayor. In his honor, the football field that once stood on the site of the Student LIfe Center was renamed in 1973 Carl “Chugger” Davis Field. When the Stadium Complex was built and the original field replaced, the school named the Carl A. “Chugger” Davis Administration Building at the stadium after him.

Sources: Leonard Ralston, The Cortland Standard, 1963 Yearbook