More BHM

There are three defensemen who have come through the Princeton men's lacrosse program who are immediately identifiable with an offensive player on an opposing team because of their epic head-to-head matchups.

All six of the players involved, by the way, were first-team All-Americans at some point of their careers.

First, there is George Baughan. You can't think of Baughan, a current Tiger, without thinking about Cornell's Jeff Teat. 

Then there is Chad Wiedmaier. When you mention Chad Wiedmaier, TigerBlog's first though is of how he battled another Cornell all-time great, Rob Pannell.

More than any other, though, the association of Princeton defenseman and opposing attackman is strongest when it comes to, well, TB doesn't have to tell you if you're been following the Tigers for the last 25 years.

It's definitely Damien Davis against Syracuse's Mikey Powell. 

Now those were classics.

Looking back on it, there were days were Davis had the better of it (holding Powell without a point while scoring a goal himself in an 11-10 Princeton win at the Carrier Dome in 2003) and days were Powell got the better of it (four goals, three assists in an NCAA tournament win). 

Mostly, they battled each other in ways where both had the moments of success, most clearly in the 2001 NCAA championship game.

Powell had two goals and two assists in that one, including the game-tying goal with 16 seconds left to force overtime. Davis stripped Powell of the ball in the overtime, and even before that he was all over the field as the Tigers stood up to the Orange juggernaut that had handed Princeton three straight lopsided losses prior to the final.

TigerBlog, who mentioned yesterday that he wrote a piece about Deborah Saint-Phard for the upcoming women's history book and that the piece will be available this week as part of the Black History Month celebration, caught up with Davis last week to write his story as well. 

Davis started every game of his four-year career at Princeton before graduating in 2003, and TigerBlog was at every one of those games. There aren't many players who have come through the program who played harder and at a higher level every single time he stepped on the field the way Damien Davis did. It was that combination, plus the way he was such a first-class representative of the program at all times, that made him one of TB's favorite players he's seen.

When TB caught up with him last week, the two talked about his days coming up through the Gilman School in Baltimore, his years at Princeton, how he has been involved in bringing lacrosse to kids in the inner-city of Baltimore and how he's doing professionally.

It's always good to talk to him.

You can read the story TB wrote HERE. Fittingly, the main picture is from the 2001 final, with Davis with the ball and Powell behind him, trying to chase him down.

TigerBlog was happy with it. He wasn't ready, though, for something that he would come to read a few days later. 

The story ran Monday. It was sent out on Princeton's social media channels as usual.

Then TB saw a quote tweet that really gave incredible context to what the most important part of the story was. You can see that here:

When I first picked up a lacrosse stick I wanted to be Mikey Powell. One Memorial Day weekend I watched SU/Princeton and saw Damien Davis. This big, strong, athletic defenseman who could take the ball away from Mikey and start a fast break. Best of all he looked like me ✊🏾 https://t.co/yuAXWEFvDD

— Brian (@BrianKnowsLax) February 9, 2021

TB has no idea who Brian is. He has no idea what Brian's lacrosse background is. 

He does know that what Brian said is very powerful. 

When Davis was coming up, there were not many black players, and certainly not many black players on his level. The ability to inspire comes in many forms, and it's easy to overlook the idea that there are kids out there who are looking for someone who looks like they do. 

Ashleigh Johnson, the Olympic gold medal water polo player, said something similar to TB when he interviewed her about her role in Princeton women's athletic history. 

As TB said, it's easy to overlook the importance of having someone who looks like you. If they can do it, you can do it.

That's what Black History Month is all about, the people who came through the doors so that other generations could see that it was possible for them as well.