Rapheal Davis Using Tragic Experiences to Help Communities, Youth Through Foundation

Rapheal Davis did everything the right way when he was a college basketball player at Purdue. He was a three-time Academic All-Big Ten selection, a three-year captain of the Boilermakers, and was named the conference's Defensive Player of the Year in 2015. He embodied the term "student-athlete" during his four years in West Lafayette.

Things could have turned out much differently for Davis, though. A concoction of crime, danger, and violence lurked around so many corners on the south side of Fort Wayne, Indiana, when he was growing up. One wrong move in high school, or earlier, could've changed the trajectory of his life permanently.

Basketball was an outlet for Davis, an avenue away from the bad decisions that clouded his neighborhood. It provided him with an opportunity and kept him out of trouble.

"When you’re 6-foot-3 in the neighborhood and you can dunk and you have a mustache ... people took care of me," Davis told Purdue Boilermakers on SI. "The guys in the neighborhood, knowing I was a basketball player, they didn’t let me get involved with certain stuff, because even they saw a future for me. I was lucky that so many people around me cared.”

At an early age, Davis learned what mentorship looked like. He had the luxury of growing up in a two-parent household, but there were also positive influences outside his home that helped steer him down the right path.

“I had loving parents. My mother was great, my father was great. My mentors, I still talk to them to this day," he said. "I was always out of the way, out of the mix, and it wasn’t solely on my parents.”

Those positive role models shone a light on what mentorship looks like in a struggling community. Because of the impact those mentors had on his life, Davis wanted to pay it forward. In the middle of 2020, the former Purdue basketball star, his wife, Asja, and some of his closest friends launched CREW Life, a foundation designed to "empower young people to recognize their own potential early and set educational goals that help them realize their dreams and strengthen the communities where they live."

CREW Life offers a variety of sports, basketball camps, and educational opportunities in communities across Indiana, stretching from Evansville to Lafayette, and Indianapolis to Fort Wayne. It's an opportunity for at-risk youth to get high-level athletic instruction while also developing life skills and creating lasting relationships.

“We try to give families something they can afford, while also providing high-level basketball education," Davis said. "When we have kids who are good enough, we can give them high-level instruction.”

Perhaps the most important element of the foundation? Everyone is welcome.

"We don’t turn any kids down. We have suburban kids who do not need to be at a free event, but they need to interact with kids they would not normally be around," Davis said. “When you can just show kids they’re having fun together and then they grow up together, by the time they’re in high school, it’s not awkward.”

Tragedy inspired Davis to give back

Giving back to the community and helping young people has been a passion for Rapheal Davis since his days in West Lafayette. He remembers wanting to be a sixth-grade basketball coach when his playing days were over, and hopes of one day opening a local gym.

Davis's intentions come from a place of love and caring. But his motivation to assist at-risk youth and launch CREW Life stems from sad and tragic circumstances.

“It was around the time when a bunch of my buddies, and even family members of mine, started to go to jail, started dying," Davis said. "One of my best buddies from my high school basketball team is incarcerated right now. Our point guard is doing 85 years for murder. There are probably five guys who are incarcerated, three or four guys who died from gun violence.

“One of my best buddies growing up — same size, same height, he was bigger than me physically … he was athletically inclined like no other. He ended up going to prison for a very long time, and while in prison, he was murdered."

Davis was tired of hearing about the death and incarceration. He wanted to set an example and keep kids away from the streets. While at Purdue, he received his first opportunity to assist those in need while studying management.

One of Davis's college courses required him to raise funds for a charity. He picked the Cary Home for Children in Lafayette, which offers residential and treatment services for youth.

Working on that project provided Davis with even more inspiration to serve as a mentor.

“Going to visit those kids, they would hang with us at Purdue — seeing them, it reminded me of the kids that I grew up with, seeing some of them not having much," Davis said.

Davis graduated from Purdue in 2016, and just four years later, his dream of launching his own foundation, geared towards helping youth, was realized. He settled on the name "CREW Life," inspired by a nickname he and his buddies came up with for their group back in Fort Wayne.

It also serves as an acronym for the foundation: Community, Responsibility, Education, and Will. Sports might be the attractive draw to Davis's organization, but it's not the only focus.

“Every camp, we do financial literacy," Davis said. "For every sports event or camp, there has to be an educational component. If you want to play sports with us, you have to be fully bought into that.”

More to (CREW) Life than sports

Rapheal Davis grew up in a home that prioritized academics over athletics. His father, Richard, was a police officer, and his mother, Monick, was a stay-at-home mother who eventually returned to school and became a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP).

Davis understood that if he slouched in the classroom, his basketball privileges would be confiscated. So, when it comes to CREW Life, he operates with a similar vigor to education.

Children involved with CREW Life must be involved in at least three activities, one per season. They must also maintain a B+ grade average.

“A big thing in my house was education. I couldn’t play ball unless I had a 4.0 grade point average," Davis said. "So, a 3.3 sounds crazy, but if I didn’t have all As, I wasn’t going to any basketball tournaments, and that was strict.”

Davis was a standout during his basketball career at Purdue. He played for coach Matt Painter from 2012-16, helping revitalize a program that endured some lowly seasons in the Big Ten. He was a 1,000-point scorer and collected more than 500 rebounds during his time in West Lafayette.

So, yes, the former Boilermaker takes a lot of pride in the basketball instruction he can provide to local kids. But he also wants to open their eyes to experiences and opportunities that exist outside the gym.

“Not everyone is going to be an athlete," Davis said. "If you’re a kid who may not make his high school or freshman team, how can we keep you out of trouble when it’s time for you to make pivotal decisions? What goals can we give you in second, third, fourth grade that you can still lean on when you’re a junior or senior in high school and basketball doesn’t work out for you?”

A major aspect of CREW Life is introducing kids to college life and exposing them to an entirely new world.

Because of Davis's ties to Purdue, many of those campus tours take place on campus in West Lafayette. These aren't just guided walks around the school grounds, either. There is a lot of intent and purpose in those trips to the university.

“When sports don’t go your way, how can you still be successful? Showing them engineering, showing them the STEM fields, letting them sit in lectures, walk around campus, maybe see a tailgate before a football game. They get to see stuff like that, it makes them more interested," Davis said.

“You get to see people who look just like you, dress just like you, with a backpack and going to class. I think exposing them to that is important.”

CREW Life continues to grow

When Rapheal and Asja Davis launched CREW Life back in 2020, they didn't know the kind of impact possible or the number of kids they could reach. Five years later, the foundation has provided opportunities for more than 2,100 kids.

It feels like just the beginning.

CREW Life initially launched as a way for kids to receive an introduction to basketball and receive mentorship. In its five-year existence, though, Davis and his "crew" have launched several different programs.

“We do yearly stuff. We’ll have our travel football program, we have fall and spring basketball leagues, and we have track programs in the summer," Davis said. "We have the opportunity for you to come be with us, but if you’re in a school program, that’s great, too. We want to encourage that.”

Over the years, a number of recognizable names have assisted Davis in his goal of reaching out to the youth, donating either their time, or money ... or both. Former Purdue point guard Lewis Jackson assists with camps. Two-time National Player of the Year Zach Edey was willing to speak to a group. Even Indiana's Luke Goode, a Fort Wayne native, donated to the cause.

“(Luke) reached out to me at 2 a.m. after (Indiana) had just beaten Michigan State, and he asked me how he could help. In the world of NIL, Luke Goode sponsored half of the entire spring league that we had, which was 100 kids," Davis said. "He didn't want any credit. I asked him to put his logo on the flyer, but he wanted no credit, he wanted no notice, he just wanted kids to have an opportunity.”

Davis is already seeing that type of generosity rubbing off on some of his current campers. Some are already planning their futures, hoping to assist and grow CREW Life after receiving their high school and college education.

That's exactly the vision Davis had when he, his wife and his longtime friends launched the foundation five years ago.

“I want this to be a thing where, when I’m gone, the kids still see the need to do it," Davis said.

“If we can get one person to gravitate to someone, we can save a lot of kids. To me, that’s the purpose of CREW Life. We are not building athletes, we are building a community that takes care of each other.”

Tragedy inspired Davis to give back

More to (CREW) Life than sports

CREW Life continues to grow

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