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‘He put recruiting on the front page’: Catching up with Forrest Davis
Posted on 6/15/20 at 11:16 am
Posted on 6/15/20 at 11:16 am
quote:
Before there were 24-hour online college football recruiting updates, before there were internet sites dedicated to individual team recruiting, before there was even an internet, there was Forrest Davis.
The Birmingham-area native wrote about and talked about recruiting in a variety of print publications, on the radio and on television for nearly 30 years beginning in the late 1970s. In that time, Davis took what was once a little-discussed-but-always-important facet of college football into something that fans devoured with nearly as much enthusiasm as they did the games between the lines.
At its height in the 1990s, the Forrest Davis Southern Football Recruiting Annual was printing and distributing 50,000 copies per year, counting Hollywood legend (and ardent Florida State fan) Burt Reynolds among its subscribers. Davis also wrote a regular column during recruiting season in the Birmingham Post-Herald.
As both a host and a guest, Davis made regular appearances to discuss recruiting on numerous radio stations across Alabama. And he later hosted Countdown to Signing Day, a show dedicated entirely to college football recruiting, which aired on the SportSouth cable network out of Atlanta.
To help identify the top recruits in the Southeast, Davis relied on conversations with recruiting coordinators at the various schools in what was then the Southeastern Conference footprint — the states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee. In those days, one could call assistant coaches in their offices, and they would usually either pick up the phone or return messages.
By 1979, Davis had formed a friendship with Ben Cook, a longtime Birmingham sports writer and radio personality. Cook (who died in 2015) was then editor of the SEC Sports Journal, a Sporting News-style magazine that focused on football and basketball.
One day, Cook suggested Davis begin writing a football and basketball recruiting column for the magazine. It was so popular that in 1981, Cook, Davis and business manager Ken Flowers began publishing a mail-order recruiting newsletter, the Gold Star Recruiting Guide, which they continued in various formats for the next five years.
It was during this time that Davis first came up with his now-ubiquitous “power rating” system, ranking prospects from one star up to five.
‘He put recruiting on the front page’: Catching up with Forrest Davis
Posted on 6/15/20 at 11:52 am to paperwasp
i remember me and my uncle would watch/read/listen to forrest davis as much as possible. always liked his info and personality.
kudos mr davis
kudos mr davis
Posted on 6/15/20 at 11:57 am to paperwasp
Always loved going to book store to get his magazine every year
Posted on 6/15/20 at 12:17 pm to paperwasp
I miss that kind of recruiting. I always bought the magazine and then you just had to wait until the newspaper came out to see who you got.
I’ve kinda gotten a little sour with all of it now a days.
I’ve kinda gotten a little sour with all of it now a days.
Posted on 6/15/20 at 2:19 pm to Cobrasize
Now it's a social media circus
Posted on 6/15/20 at 2:30 pm to TidalSurge1
It’s just too much now. I’m not blaming the kids at all.
I still like to keep updated, but I’ve drastically backed off.
I still like to keep updated, but I’ve drastically backed off.
Posted on 6/15/20 at 2:54 pm to Cobrasize
Think we have had this discussion before but I used to subscribe to a “pamphlet” put out by Rodney Orr... Tiderinsider I think man... good times
Loved when recruiting was much simpler and read the bios in the paper the day after NSD
Loved when recruiting was much simpler and read the bios in the paper the day after NSD
Posted on 6/15/20 at 11:14 pm to Bear88
I was a kid working at Winn Dixie and there was a guy that was older and part time that would bring me printed out stuff from Tiderinsider. I thought that I had all the secret intel
Posted on 6/16/20 at 7:25 am to Cobrasize
Following recruiting is for losers.
Posted on 6/16/20 at 7:29 am to TideSaint
quote:Why is that?
Following recruiting is for losers.
Posted on 6/16/20 at 7:39 am to Sebastian
Ugh.
I need to work on my sarcasm.
I need to work on my sarcasm.
Posted on 6/16/20 at 9:15 am to TideSaint
I thought you liked recruiting!
Posted on 6/16/20 at 10:07 am to TideSaint
quote:
I need to work on my sarcasm
Nah... I laughed.
I think I still got some Forrest Davis mags along with some old Bama mags from the early 90’s. Probably buried under decades of Hot Rod mags that my wife complains about throwing away.
Posted on 6/16/20 at 10:50 am to Cobrasize
The good ole days went back to Kirk McNair and his Bama Mags
My dad subscribed to those back in the 60s. He covered recruiting a little. But I liked Forest Davis. He was a Bama homer.
My dad subscribed to those back in the 60s. He covered recruiting a little. But I liked Forest Davis. He was a Bama homer.
Posted on 6/16/20 at 10:53 am to paperwasp
He may want to consider changing his first name.
Posted on 6/16/20 at 11:35 am to Snout Spout
It seems like he had a sports segment on ch 42 back in the day. Didn't he share time with another recruit guru that later took off by himself? He knew his stuff, he just didn't have a big personality.
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