Former Swimming & Tennis Coach, Educator Passes Away
Jim Davies, who taught and coached at UW-Oshkosh for 26 years, died on Sunday (Sept. 1) in Oshkosh at the age of 87.
Davies joined UW-Oshkosh as a physical education teacher in 1964. He then coached the Titans in men’s tennis from 1965-90, men’s swimming & diving from 1965-78 and women’s tennis from 1978-89.
Named the WIAC’s All-Time Men’s Tennis Coach, Davies guided UW-Oshkosh to a 267-236 record with 10 conference titles. He captured the league crown during each of his first nine seasons and again in 1975. The Titans finished third at the NAIA Championship in 1968, fifth in 1971 and sixth in 1969.
Davies received numerous awards, including District 14 Men’s Tennis Coach of the Year (1967, 1969, 1971-72, 1982) and WIAC Women’s Tennis Coach of the Year (1987).
In men’s swimming, Davies posted a 91-88 record. He mentored Chris Keefe, one of the program’s most decorated athletes. Keefe earned three NAIA All-America awards in the freestyle events from 1973-75.
Davies coached three singles players and one doubles team to titles at the WIAC Women’s Tennis Championship.
“I never met a student-athlete I didn’t like,” Davies said after his retirement in 1990. “It was just a fantastic experience. I would never change it for the world. I feel I had the best job at the university.”
Davies was inducted into the UW-Oshkosh Athletics Hall of Fame during 2000.
Davies was born April 20, 1926 in Janesville, the son of the late James and Florence Pickering Davies. He married Margaret Hoyer on August 22, 1956 in Rockford Ill. He is survived by his wife, Margaret, and his sister-in-law, Verna (Don) Heinicke of Wenatchee, Wash., and many nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his sisters, Margaret Creutz, Florence Cronin and Joyce Rott.
Memorial services for Davies will be Friday, (Sept. 6) at 1 p.m. in the Fiss and Bills-Poklasny Funeral Home (865 S. Westhaven Drive - Oshkosh), with the Rev. JoAnn Schoblaske officiating. Family and friends may call at the Funeral Home on Friday from 10:30 a.m. until the time of the service.