1. Daniel Davis
Ms. Gardner
English
9/10/13
The Fight
August 23rd, 2012, eleven o’clock I’m standing in front of a hospital, crying,
asking God “Why was I the one to be put into this situation, why did I have to change
someone’s life for the worse, why was this burden on me, why why WHY?!”... Lets
take a step back to the beginning; I can remember better it like it was yesterday.
Putting on my white Grand Blanc football jersey, waiting to three o’clock to strike to
go up to the school to do a fundraiser with the whole football program. Me being one
of the leaders I could not wait. Every year at my school we celebrate the end of fall
camp by going out the Friday before the first game and selling discount books
throughout the city of Grand Blanc and my senior year was no different. We’d all
meet up at the high school, get into groups, load up into cars, and hit various
neighborhoods. Every year prior to this I was riding in the car but this year, since I
was the senior, I was driving the car, which was a cool deal to me. I had kids of all
ages in my group ending with my little brother who was a freshman. A friend to the
family whose son just joined the program asked me if Cam, his son, could ride with
me because he knew I would keep him safe. I didn’t think anything of this statement
until later that night.
We drove around and settled on a neighborhood. As the senior you make all
the younger guys get out of the car and do the work while you just sit in the car and

2. watch so that’s what I did. It was crazy hot that day so I decided as the leader that
we would go to only a couple different neighborhoods and call it a day and go back
to the school. So we go to the last stop and head back to the school. Driving down
Grand Blanc road… doing 40mph… music loud…windows down… guy start
laughing… I look back to see what’s so funny but the car in front of me slams their
brakes but I slammed too slow then BOOM! I smacked the car and I am in a daze. I
look back to see if everyone is alright, they are, I look to my right to see if my
brother was okay, he’s not. His wrist is shattered, his hand almost broke through the
windshield and he is crying to no end and all I can do is call the police. As I’m sitting
there people begin to come up to the car to see if we’re okay and all I could say is yes
but my brother isn’t. The look of the pain on his face will never leave my memory.
I’m at a standstill, while everyone else is being cared for I’m just standing there
looking at my car and my brother and thinking “What have I done?” so I just pray,
not for me, not for the other kids, not for the car, but for my brother. The text and
calls began to flood in “Dan are you ok?!” and “How bad are you hurt?” but I didn’t
care if I was hurt, I didn’t care if that was the end of my football career, I cared about
my best friend that was in the worse pain of his life time and how I was the one who
caused the pain. All I can remember from the drive to the hospital is the disgust I
had in my heart for myself, my dad was trying to tell me its not my fault but at that
moment in time those words were going through one ear and out the other, I just
wanted my brother to be okay. This is the kid that drives me to be my best just
because he looks up to his big brother; this is the kid that ask me does he look good
when he gets some new clothes or the kid who changes his hair style because I did.

3. We rush into the hospital behind the ambulance; they put my brother on the cart
and took him away. His wrist snapped completely in two places, mind you this is a
week before his first high school football game, so it looks like no football for him
and looking at it from my perspective my world would have ended if that was the
case for me but he’s stronger than me. I saw things done to that wrist that I didn’t
even think were possible, surgery was possible but John had faith that it wouldn’t
come to that and in the end it didn’t. He’s so strong that two weeks after the accident
he was playing the piano with two hands while I’m over here not wanting to even
drive a car because I would get flash backs whenever I sat in the drivers seat. I
dedicated my senior year to my brother, he drove me to be the best I could be even
when he didn’t know it. I have a pregame ritual where I take a knee and just pray on
the field and I’ve been doing that for years but this year was different, see I prayed
for a victory and no serious injuries but this year at the end I said “This is for John”
because I wouldn’t have been there mentally with out him. My first game of my
senior year I played terrible because I was feeling too guilty that my brother wasn’t
able to play but I realized that he wanted the best for me, he wanted something to
cheer for so from there on out that’s what I gave him. I started on both side of the
ball my whole senior year, I hated it because I knew I wouldn’t have a chance to be
all state but I did it because it was what John would do and I had to do it so my team
would have the best chance of winning every game we played so I showed him what
the true meaning of there is no I in team. You think this is a sad ending? Ha, not this
time around. This is the year I could tell my mom what I promised her was true, that
college would be free and she wouldn’t have to worry about how we would pay for

4. it, this is the year my brother got his hand back and its better than ever, like way
better. So mush better to the point now that my 15 year old brother is now the head
of music at my church and leading people closer to God one song and a time and
some of these people are 5 times John’s age. This is the year my brother was driven
to be great in everything he did.
Now to the present time, August 27, 2013. John steps on the field for his first
high school game. Blood pumping through his veins like he’s never felt before, palms
sweaty, butterflies in his stomach but he knows what he came to do, he came to win,
but he has big shoes to fill, how do you go from Daniel’s brother to John while
playing the exact same position he did? Guess you have to do something he’s never
done before and that’s what he did! I started in 41 high school football games and he
does the only thing I didn’t do in his first high school game, he got an interception!
Now you know I’ll never hear the end of this one. My old high school coach texted
me and said “Dan who? John is the best Davis” and you know what? I’m totally fine
with that. Since I am a college athlete and have a crazy schedule I will probably
never be able to watch my brother play a football game live but just knowing that he
is pout there making a huge impact on the field is enough for me to know he’s doing
just fine. See this isn’t a story of how adversity comes and we find a way to just make
it out, this is a story of how life punches you in the mouth, we take the hit, smile, and
throw a huge knockout punch of our own and that’s what we did, KO!