Salem University Athletics

Born December 29, 1889, Orla A. Davis served Salem College as an athlete, coach and professor.  He was an original member of the Salem College Athletic Hall of Fame in 1962. While a student at Salem, he was four-year letterman, excelling in baseball, basketball, track and boxing. Davis graduated in 1912 and was a member of the Lauditi Society. His memory was perpetuated on the Salem college campus by the Orla A. Davis room in the Carlson Hall of Science Building.

Davis coached at Salem College, sharing his experience with young baseball standouts. The late Col. Guy Layman said that, “Orla Davis, despite his size, had everything a pitcher needed. He had speed, curves and a tricky slow ball and above all else control. He has a keen memory, studied the batter and rarely ever made the wrong pitch a second time. He was a steadying influence on the others and gave everything he had.”

Davis had the rare privilege of playing eight seasons of college athletics. He was a member of the Salem Academy and followed it up with a four-year career with Salem College. During West Virginia’s centennial celebration, Davis was voted an Outstanding Harrison Country Athlete for the period 1863 to 1963.

He began a 57-year teaching career in the Harrison County School System. Davis also taught at the Salem Academy and was the professor of physics at Salem College from 1929 until his retirement in 1965.