Bills Central

Buffalo Bills Fourth Round Pick RB Ray Davis Is The Ultimate Underdog

There might not be a more perfect fit than Ray Davis and Bills Mafia

Chris Pirrone

Kentucky Wildcats running back Ray Davis (1) throws down Ls after scoring in the third quarter. Nov.
Kentucky Wildcats running back Ray Davis (1) throws down Ls after scoring in the third quarter. Nov. / Matt Stone/The Courier Journal / USA

The Athletic's profile of the newly selected Buffalo Bills fourth round draft pick, Re'Mahn 'Ray' Davis, RB Kentucky, is as compelling of an underdog story as they come.

Davis grew up on the street of San Francisco...literally. He and his 14 siblings were often homeless, staying in shelters and foster care while his parents were in and out of prison.

When Ray was an adolescent, he would stay at a daycare run by a family friend...and be left there by his mom "all weekend. Or for an entire week. Or for an entire month. When he had nowhere else to go, he’d stay with his grandma, but that was never going to be a permanent solution, Ray says. Not enough clean clothes. Not enough food."

“I was the kid who was kinda left around a bunch of different places,” Ray says now.

"By 8 he was a ward of the state; by 12 he was living in a homeless shelter with two of his 14 siblings. When he learned a foster family had enough room to take two of them — but not all three — Ray volunteered to stay back so his brother and sister wouldn’t get lost in the system like he was. “If they can get out and be together,” he told the case worker at the time, “that’s the best thing for them.”"

In middle school, a teacher agreed to take Davis in for a few nights...that stay lasted 3 years.

"“Of course you can stay with us,” Ben Klaus tells him, and even though it’s a tiny one-bedroom apartment in the heart of downtown San Francisco, and even though Ben and his fiancée, Alexa, are busy planning their wedding for that summer, “just a night or two” turns into three years.""

Davis got by with the help of many, including Patrick Dowley, his Big Brother via the San Francisco Big Brothers Big Sisters chapter and Lora Banks, the mother of an AAU basketball teammate who cared for and guided Ray to a boarding school in New York state.

Related: What to Know About Buffalo Bills Draft Pick Ray Davis, RB Kentucky

“You just don’t think to ask, ‘Who takes care of you?’ Or, ‘Where’s your mom and dad?'”, she says now. “But the one thing that stuck out to me was when we got back, I asked him where I should drop him off, and he just mumbled, ‘Oh, I’ll just take the bus from your house.’

At Trinity-Pawling School, Davis lettered in 4 sports - basketball, baseball and track and field, but excelled most on the football field.

Boarding school led him to an exceptional collegiate football career at Temple, Vanderbilt and eventually Kentucky. Over his five year collegiate career, Davis became the first player in Division I history to run for 1,000 rushing yards at three different schools. His 4,388 all-purpose yards and 41 total touchdowns showcase his immense athletic impact.

Kentucky running back Ray Davis (1) talks with media at the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl Press Conference
Kentucky running back Ray Davis (1) talks with media at the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl Press Conference / Ken Ruinard / staff / USA TODAY NETWORK

“This isn’t a story of, ‘Oh, I stepped in a pile of crap and found the pony.’ Not at all,” Banks said. “He stepped in a pile of crap, then asked himself, ‘Do I wanna stay in it? Or do I wanna climb out of it?'”

The immense hurdles placed in front of Davis throughout his life could have led to a resentful or frustrated person. "But he’s not. He’s grateful. The heartache that dotted his journey, the scars of his youth that he still wears — that’s the reason he’s here.

"After what I been through,” Davis says, “what’s gonna get in my way now?”"

Ray Davis...welcome to Buffalo, where your climb to success continues. The 'City of Good Neighbors' is ready to support you...afterall...no one one loves an underdog story more than Bills Mafia.

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Chris Pirrone

CHRIS PIRRONE