| Intro | American basketball players |
| Is |
Athlete Basketball player |
| From | United States of America |
| Type | Sports |
| Gender | male |
| Birth | 21 November 1975, San Francisco |
| Age: | 44 years |
Bennett Davison (born November 21, 1975) is a retired American basketball player who played professionally for over ten years, including several seasons in Italy’s Lega Basket Serie A. Davison is also known for his success as a college player, where he was a starter on the University of Arizona’s 1997 NCAA championship team.
Davison was born in San Francisco and raised in Sebastopol, California. He was lightly recruited after his high school career at Analy High School and landed at West Valley College, a community college. After two strong seasons, Davison attracted the attention of coach Lute Olson at Arizona, and was offered a scholarship with the Wildcats.
In his first season at Arizona, Davison started at power forward as the young Wildcats entered the 1997 NCAA Tournament as a #4 seed with a 19–9 record. They swept through the field to win the national championship, becoming the first team to beat three top seeds (Kansas, North Carolina and Kentucky) in the process. In Davison’s senior season, the team returned all five starters and was ranked #1 in the preseason, but was upset in the regional final by Utah. For his Arizona career, Davison averaged 8.6 points and 6.5 rebounds per game and started 61 of 69 contests in his two seasons.
Following the close of his college career, Davison did not enter the 1998 NBA draft, at the advice of his agent. He began a 14-year overseas career, taking him to Turkey, Australia, Slovenia, Italy, Greece, Mexico, Venezuela and the Dominican Republic. He played in Lega Basket Serie A, Italy’s top league, averaging 9.5 points and 5.8 rebounds in his three-year career there.
His playing days ended when the last few teams owners failed to pay him. He and a few other players seeking to recover wages tried to start a foreign players union. Bennett learned quickly that foreign courts had little sympathy for American athletes and suing a team owner for unpaid wages took more money than most of the players had.
As the 21st century saw the rise of competitive basketball around the world, the need to pay American-born and trained players decreased, which effected salaries. As of 2016, the average starting player in a European or Middle Eastern League reported earnings less than USA’s highest minimum wage.
To resolve this and warn incoming players of unethical team owners, Bennett formed a virtual players union in 2013 called EuroHooplife.org. It provided work referrals to dozens of active players including DeCorey Spalding Jones. The web site went offline in 2016, but he still helps talent find credible teams to play on.
In 2014, Bennett returned to the United States to finish his college degree and spend more time with his daughters after a contested divorce. He began coaching little league and working on a story of his life with a screenwriter with ties to Paramount Pictures. Together they wrote his biography 21 Memoirs and the script with the working title Legends of ’97, with the help of New York acting coach and script doctor Frank Rossi.
Bennett attended the 2016 ceremony of the 20th Anniversary of the 1997 National Championship at McKale Center in Tucson, Arizona.
Bennett resides in Dallas, Texas where he coaches, offers physical training and develops new creative properties that teach parents how to prepare their kids for the world of student-athletics.