Former Clemson all-ACC defensive back and NFL draft pick Dexter Davis was recently presented with the Brian Dawkins Lifetime Achievement Award.
Since 2013, Clemson football coach Dabo Swinney has presented the award, an university release said.
Davis’ demonstrated leadership, community service, and other high qualities in the last decade since graduating from the Clemson program earned him this year’s honor.
Dawkins, who played 16 seasons in the NFL and is a Hall of Famer, was the first recipient of the award that bears his name honoring his many years of public service.
Davis played at Clemson 1988-90, when the Tigers had a 10-2 record and finished in the top 12 of the final AP poll each year.
A Sumter native, Davis played 59 games in the NFL for the Cardinals and the Rams, and had a short stint in the CFL before a brief coaching career. Davis coached at Morgan State and then at high schools in Charleston and Greenville.
Davis now works in the private sector as president and CEO of Eagle Universal Services, a construction and engineering company. Among its clients are the U.S. Navy and Marines, the NFL, Bank of America, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Davis’ civic contributions are just as impressive.
A longtime member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, he has worked with programs at Georgia State, Morris Brown, and Morehouse.
He remains connected to football, having worked as a “character coach” for the Atlanta Falcons and a director of football ministries in Brazil, Hungary and East Africa.
Davis and his wife, LaShea, have four children.
