Classmates say Gus loved Guilford and showed that love over the years through his service to the College.
Examples of Gus Davis’ ’72 impact on the College he loved are everywhere. He was a member of the Board of Trustees. He co-chaired the trustees’ Constituent Engagement and Reputation Council and helped fashion solutions to recent fiscal and other institutional challenges. He was a member of the Alumni Association Board of Directors and was once honored with the Alumni Excellence Award.
“(Gus) succeeded in everything he did and with everything he touched. A wonderful person who was a terrific friend. Not just to me but to everyone who got to know him.”
Gus wore so many different hats for the College he loved it could be easy to forget one of those hats was a baseball cap. In February, baseball players young and old gathered near Edgar H. McBane '14 Field to remember one of their own and to dedicate the Quakers’ home baseball dugout in his name. Gus died in 2022.
Rick Goings, a classmate and later business mentor to Gus, made a gift of $25,000 to the College in Gus’ memory to fund the naming. Rick was not able to attend the ceremony, but many former players and classmates were on hand. So were members of the Quakers’ current baseball team.
Ann Davis, Gus’ wife, was there, too. “It’s such a wonderful honor,” says Ann. “I’m touched by what the College did to remember my husband. Gus loved everything about Guilford and that included baseball and his teammates.”
John Parker ’72 was one of those teammates. John says the dugout at Edgar H. McBane ’14 Field named after his classmate and friend was like an office for Gus. “His sense of humor, his love of baseball and general wisdom kept us loose or competitively intense if the situation required,” says John. “He had that kind of presence and respect in there.”
Gus' transition from baseball to business was just as successful. In a business career spanning decades, Gus rose to levels of executive leadership with several companies. He was senior vice president, supply chain operations and logistics, for The Pause Group beginning in mid-2019 and, before that, executive vice president of operations for boom! Creative Development.
He worked for Avon Products, where he was mentored by Rick, and recognized as a top-10 sales increase leader for Avon, worldwide, in 1994.
“He succeeded in everything he did and with everything he touched,” says John. “A wonderful person who was a terrific friend. Not just to me but to everyone who got to know him.”