Walter Davis, basketball star with a velvet touch, dies at the age of 69

Walter Davis, whose smooth shooting propelled him to basketball stardom with the University of North Carolina and the Phoenix Suns but who struggled with drug addiction late in his career, died Thursday while visiting family in Charlotte, N.C. He was 69.

The university announced his death but did not indicate a cause.

Davis, a 6-foot-1 forward, played at North Carolina from 1973 to 1977 for Dean Smith, one of the most successful coaches in college history. He averaged 15.7 points per game over four seasons on the Tar Heels teams that also included Bobby Jones, Phil Ford and Mitch Kupchak.

In one of Davis’ signature games, in March 1974, North Carolina lost to Duke, 86-78, with 17 seconds left. After North Carolina closed the deficit to two points as time expired, Davis tied the deficit with a shot from a distance estimated between 30 and 30 feet. (The basket would have counted for three points and won the game today, but the three-point shot was not officially introduced by the NCAA until 1986.) North Carolina went on to win in overtime, 96-92.

“I wasn’t trying to take it in,” Davis, a freshman at the time, said afterward. ‘It wasn’t a desperation shot. I was just trying to do my part, that’s all. I didn’t allow myself to think about anything. I told myself it could only do two things: go in or come back out.

In 1976 he was part of the American team, also coached by Dean Smith, that won a gold medal at the Montreal Olympics. A year later, he led North Carolina with 20 points — and 10 of his team’s last 12 — as it lost to Marquette 67-59 in the final game of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.

He was selected twice to all-Atlantic Coast Conference teams.

His cousin Hubert is currently the coach of North Carolina.

Walter Davis was born on September 9, 1954 in Pineville, NC. His high school in Charlotte won three state titles in basketball before he left to attend prep school in Delaware. He arrived in North Carolina in 1973.

In 1977, Davis had surgery for a broken finger after North Carolina won the ACC Tournament his senior year. “Before they kicked me out, I remember looking up and Coach Smith was there,” he told Ken Rosenthal for his book “Dean Smith: A Tribute” (2001). “I remember seeing him and the screws being drilled into my finger.”

Davis was drafted by the Phoenix Suns in the first round of the 1977 NBA draft. After averaging 24.2 points per game – the highest average of any season in his career – he was named Rookie of the Year in the competition. He remained a regular during his eleven seasons in Phoenix, averaging 20.5 points per game at small forward and shooting guard.

During a game in 1983, he set a league record by scoring 34 points (on 15 field goals and four free throws) against Seattle before missing a shot.

‘I can’t remember a sweeter shot’ Alvan Adamsone of his teammates, told NBA.com in 2015. “He was a feared shooter. The other team knew it too.”

Chuck Daly, then coach of the Detroit Pistons, told The New York Times in 1987: “Walter is a good shooter until the fourth period. Then he becomes a great shooter.”

Davis had two nicknames: Sweet D and Greyhound.

In his later years in Phoenix, Davis faced drug problems. In 1986, he spent a month in a drug rehabilitation center to treat cocaine and alcohol addiction. Early next year he told The Times: ‘The scariest thing is knowing it’s a disease I’ll have to work on for the rest of my life.’

When he relapsed in 1987, Davis was suspended by the league and entered rehab again. He was also granted immunity from prosecution when he agreed to testify against several current and former Suns teammates, who were indicted on drug charges.

In his testimony, The Arizona Republic reported, Davis said he first used cocaine in his second season in the league after being introduced to it by a teammate, Gar Heard. When asked by a prosecutor who else was there, he said: “Pretty much the whole team.”

Later that year, Davis said prosecutors forced him to testify against his teammates.

“I had no choice,” he told Sports Illustrated. “The last thing I wanted was for my teammates and friends to get sued. If I had known I was going to do that, I probably would have gone to jail.”

Davis left the Suns in 1988 to sign as a free agent with the Denver Nuggets. He was traded to the Portland Trail Blazers in 1991 and then re-signed with Denver, where he played in the 1991-92 season before retiring.

Davis averaged 18.9 points per game over his career and played in six All-Star Games.

After retiring, he worked as an announcer and community ambassador for the Nuggets and as a scout for the Washington Wizards.

Information about survivors was not immediately available.