By Robert Wilson
Madison-Ridgeland football coach Herbert Davis is making the best of what he calls a second chance in life given to him by God.
Davis had a kidney transplant on Dec. 11, which he said saved his life.
“There were times that I didn’t think I was going to make it (before the transplant),” Davis said. “I learned to trust in the Lord a lot more than before. I grew closer to Him. I came to the conclusion that if it didn’t happen, God had a plan, and I was going to trust Him. I had a peace about it. Sometimes, God doesn’t answer prayer right away. That doesn’t mean He won’t ever answer it. He does in His time.”
God answered Davis’ prayers when Leah Cox, whose son Fletcher plays football for MRA, volunteered to donate one of her kidneys and it was a match. But Davis didn’t receive Cox’s kidney. Instead, Cox was the missing link to a complicated puzzle that allowed seven people to receive kidneys in a unique procedure at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson. Davis’ kidney came from Patrick Johnson, a captain in the Ouachita Parish Sheriff Department in Monroe, La.
After three days in the hospital, Davis came home.
He’s come a long way since then. Davis is on his 14th week of getting into a normal routine, waking up around 5 a.m., walking in his neighborhood, lifting weights, and riding his stationary bike at his house, eating a healthy diet, and doing what he loves, coaching high school football.
“I weighed 237 today,” Davis said this past weekend. “This past Monday (July 8) was my 29th wedding anniversary (to his wife Darla) and I have not been in the 230s since I got married. My goal is to get down to 235 by the end of the summer and 220 by Christmas. I weighed 215 when I was playing fullback in college (at Copiah-Lincoln Community College).”
Davis – who turned 57 years old on New Year’s Day – said this is the best he has felt since he has been at MRA. His first year in Madison was 2014.
“I’m eating healthier and getting a lot of exercise,” Davis said. “I’m drinking two and a half and three liters of water – either hydrogen or filtered water – a day. The Good Lord has given me a second chance and I’m eating much healthier this time. I cook most of my meals. My workouts are important, too. I ride my bike and do interval training. It’s a new lifestyle for me. I’ve changed. I get my steps in and count my calories. It’s the best I’ve felt in a long, long time.”
At first after the transplant, Davis had weekly follow up visits with the doctor. He has done so well, now he goes to see the doctor every two months with lab work once a month. Davis is also being weaned off his kidney rejection medicine.
“It’s only been a year since the first time I ever spoke to Coach Davis,” said Leah Cox, who also back to regular activities after her surgery in December. “And then two short weeks later, he was fighting his life and we were praying for a miracle and a donor. I had no idea the journey that was straight ahead for me and my family. From the moment I spoke the words, ‘Coach needs a kidney and I’ve got to see if I’m a match,’ to surgery day, I was in total awe of the Lord’s leading and provision. We are now six months post-surgery, and I still can’t get over that it really happened. The opportunities that I have had to sit and chat with Coach Davis I have seen that his faith is what carried him through the ups and downs of kidney failure. He was steadfast in believing for healing and a donor. And to the outsider, you would have never known the struggle watching him coach his team. A beloved coach and true leader, Coach Davis has a bit of fire and pep in his step this season as he’s been given a better quality of life.”
Davis started having signs of some kidney issues about six years ago and had been battling stage 5 kidney failure since January 2020. Davis had started on dialysis in 2019. Davis first started dialysis seven times a week at night and then he did four-hour treatments five times a week. Davis was hospitalized last year after getting an infection, which caused fluid around his heart and was in ICU for about two weeks. He continued to pray and search for a match for a possible transplant, something he had been waiting several years for.
Meanwhile, Davis had to be careful for several years so not to get sick. He didn’t ride the team bus, didn’t get to be in the locker room with his players, stayed away from crowds. Despite that, he won state titles in 2021 and 2022.
“Herbert is 100 percent football coach,” Darla Davis said. “His tenacity was a huge part of getting him through the tough times of kidney disease. The monotony of doing dialysis five nights a week is rough. Having to sit in a chair for four to five hours a night is tough on someone who is as active as he is. It also was tiring. The summer or hot months were always harder having to juggle and find perfect balance on water intake. He tackled this disease just as he would anything else. He amazes me in all he has had to do and go through to be where he is today. The whole transplant was nothing but a miracle and straight from God. It was perfect timing from Him in every way. The whole process from day one to now has been kind of scary. There were so many ups and downs and really scary months, but God got us through it all.”
Darla credits her husband’s passion and determined attitude for getting through this difficult time in his life.
“I told him after about three years of hemo dialysis that I had an epiphany in church that morning,” Darla Davis said. “Sometimes it is hard for him to come in second and third place in his life. But I realized if he hadn’t been that kind of coach he is and had such a passion for something, I don’t think he would have done as well with the confinement of dialysis. Because of his love for the game and his true passion for it, he could focus more on that and probably was able to watch even more film. Through the process we have both grown in our faith. God is good all the time.”
“I’m most thankful for my dad because he taught me how to choose tough growing up,” said Davis’ son, Hayden, who played quarterback for his father at MRA, and played at Co-Lin CC and is now coaching at Ravenwood High in Brentwood, Tenn. “He made me choose tough even when I didn’t want to because he knew what was most important. He made it clear to me that things in life weren’t going to be easy. Through the battle of kidney disease, he showed me what choosing tough was all about. I watched how dialysis made him so tired and it pushed him about as far as you want to go physically and mentally. I believe the best decision that we can make every day and the best way we can ‘choose tough’ is to give up our own way and to choose God. Even during the toughest days, I watched him still have peace because he chose God. He chose to remember the peace that only God can give. I remembered him telling me that he that peace when he was in his dialysis chair after a long day of practice. We would always sit and talk during that time while we would eat dinner. I would be on his bed, and he’d be in his dialysis chair. We would always talk ball during that time, and I’d ask a million questions trying to learn about the game, but the best conversations were about deeper about life. They were about the peace that only God can bring. The peace and truth about being a Christian is that death has no sting. Dad had that as he was unsure about whether he would die or not. He was guarded by that peace from knowing where he would spend eternity.”
Hayden saw first-hand how father kept pushing himself despite not being healthy.
“Dad showed physical toughness every day,” Hayden Davis said. “He just kept moving on. His body would feel terrible, but he still pressed on. He still stayed out in that heat to be able to accomplish the mission no matter how he felt. He won two state championships during his time he had to do dialysis and he just kept going. There were days at practice through those years where it was just too hot, and he wouldn’t want to come off the field and you had to drag him off the field of course to go inside. His level of toughness and intensity is unmatched. I thought he was going to die so many times, yet he still chose not to let it get the best of him.”
Herbert and Darla Davis are member of Broadmoor Baptist Church in Madison.
“It has been so encouraging to watch Coach Davis from a distance and see how God is at work in his life,” Broadmoor connections pastor Harvey Ellis said. “And then have conversations with him and hear exactly how Coach is so passionate and excited about how God is at work in his life. This has been evident both on and off the field. Herbert is passionate about football and winning, but he is even more passionate with Jesus. He has been close in his walk with Jesus for years, but his journey has brought him even closer.”
“Coach Davis never let his health problems compromise his priorities: MRA students and athletes,” MRA head of school Termie Land said. “He never made excuses; he just got the job done day after day after day. He never complained, he was always positive, and always ever forward. He was always a great example for those of us that have the privilege of working alongside him.”
Davis’ assistants have also seen how their head coach has handled this remarkable journey.
“Herbert’s faith in God is what has changed. You can see that he is different in so many ways with his daily walk with Christ,” MRA offensive line coach Kenny Williams said. “I’ve also seen him be more of a family first mindset. He understands the value of family more than ever. That’s what I’ve seen during practices and post-surgery. Coach Davis is a great example that there will always be issues and heartbreaks in life, but God will lead you through them if you trust in Him. Always be mentally tough than other people because we live in a weak world. Those will reach their goals.”
MRA’s players have been encouraged and moved by the way Davis handled his adversity with his kidney issues and leaned on his faith.
“The biggest thing I learned from Coach Davis was to trust in God,” MRA senior defensive back-kick returner Matthew Perkins said. “There will be things I have zero control in, things that will make me question, ‘Why me?’ But instead of questioning what’s going on in your life, trust in God will all your heart. He has a plan for you. Another thing I learned from him was that you always have to show up. There are people who depend on you and even when things get rough, you can never stop pushing through. One step at a time, day by day never giving up.”
Perkins also has fought through adversity this past year, recovering from leg surgery after getting injured midway through his junior season. He started seven games at cornerback and had 40 tackles and had a 37.5-yard average on 11 kickoff returns and returned two for touchdowns last season before he broke his right leg against East Rankin Academy.
“Seeing what my coach went through, and the injury that I went through, we both went through something we couldn’t control,” Perkins said. “I took my approach the same when my coach took his recovery process, and instead of pouting about it, doing what needs to be done. I told myself if my coach could go through what he went through, then I can come back even better than how I was before my injury.”
“Coach Davis is the toughest man I know,” MRA senior quarterback Samuel Stockett said. “Every single night he would have to do four hours of dialysis. He never complained about his body even though some days at practice it was visible that he was struggling. Now after his recovery, I can see his gratitude toward God. He’s been explaining to us how football is great, but it means nothing if your life isn’t secured on the cross. Coach Davis is a tough coach, but he has a vulnerable side where you can see how much he cares about his players. Now Coach Davis is healthy and ready to roll.”
Davis – a Brookhaven Academy, Co-Lin CC, and Mississippi College (bachelor’s degree) and Delta State (master’s degree) graduate – has won 237 games and five state championships (three at MRA, two at Brookhaven Academy and one at Pillow Academy) as he starts his 28th season as a head coach. He is the only football coach in Mississippi history to take five schools (MRA, Brookhaven Academy, Pillow Academy, Heritage Academy and Winston Academy) to state championship games.
Davis has won 103 games in 11 seasons at MRA.
MRA returns 12 starters (six on offense and six on defense) from last year’s team, which finished with an 8-4 record and reached the MAIS Class 6A semifinals.
Junior wide receivers Case Thomas, Will Bizot, Jack Poole and senior wide receiver Jack Polles along with 6-foot-2, 280-pound sophomore offensive lineman Caleb Unger and senior offensive lineman Sebastian Griffin are the returning starters on offense.
Thomas caught 59 passes for 1,296 yards – second-best in Mississippi, according to MaxPreps – and 17 touchdowns last season as a sophomore. Unger has Division I offers from Southern Miss, Jackson State, Mississippi Valley, Memphis, Tulane, Central Arkansas, and Arkansas State.
Junior defensive lineman Cade Gentry, senior defensive lineman nose Winn Crews, senior defensive back Matthew Perkins, junior defensive back Beckett Strong, junior defensive back Jack Ridgway and senior defensive back Jake McMillan are the returning starters on defense.
In addition, MRA has several transfers who are expected to contribute – senior defensive back and Arkansas State commitment DJ Watkins from Madison Central, senior defensive back AJ Parker from Jackson Academy, 6-3, 300-pound senior offensive lineman Kailand Stewart from Yazoo County, 6-3, 305-pound sophomore offensive lineman Clay Lawson from Richland, and junior running back-kicker Jason Jenkins from Hartfield Academy.
Senior Samuel Stockett and sophomore Austin Banks, a transfer from Copiah Academy, are in a competition to replace John White at quarterback. Stockett was White’s backup for the last two seasons. White, now a freshman at Southern Miss, set a Mississippi career passing record with 15,529 yards in his five-year high school career. He also threw for 177 career TDs, second all-time in Mississippi history. White passed for 3,557 yards and 42 touchdowns last year as a senior.
MRA’s first official practice is July 29. MRA plays Copiah August 9 in a scrimmage at MRA and opens the regular season Thursday, Aug. 15 against Parklane Academy at home in Madison.
