Danny Davis

“Basically, [everyone else] puts things together and I sit back and get all the accolades,” he says, chuckling, just as the phone rings for the second time in fifteen minutes—someone else calling for advice about LWT’s annual golf tournament.

Over the last thirteen years, Davis, who was once the coordinator of compliance for the Minneapolis public school system—has headed the tournament, at Hiawatha Golf Course, which has raised more than $88,000 for college-bound inner-city students. The Vikings, Twins, and Timberwolves teams and players, community members, and golfers have made donations. “The tournament brings a lot of folks together,” he says. “We’ve been very, very fortunate. It makes you feel good when people have that kind of confidence in you.”

LWT serves kids of all races (a majority are students of color), providing money for books, tuition, transportation, and other needs, regardless of school choice (local colleges are preferred—“That way, we keep the memory here,” Davis says).

Davis understands the need to give back to the community: From childhood to his professional boxing days, he spent a lot of time at the Phyllis Wheatley Community Center. “We had this idea and wanted to see how many people we could get involved,” he says, adding he wanted to improve the community, reciprocate good deeds, and honor the education catalysts in the community who helped start the tournament—Earl Bowman, Harry Davis, and Richard Greene.

Davis is working to keep the scholarship tournament going and eliminate administrative costs—so he can give everything back to students. He says, with his trademark eye-twinkle and laughter, “We’re gonna make it. The only way to do it is if we all stick together. Everyone pitches in. It makes life 100 percent better. Ain’t that right?”