Fox gave ex-Vol Davis big chance behind mike

He used some of it to dabble in UT's in-house television studio.

"If you saw those tapes,'' Davis said with a laugh, "you'd say, 'No way is that kid ever going to make it in TV.' ''

That kid has made it in TV, though.

His jack-of-all-sports broadcast career hit a new summit on Jan. 8 when he served as an analyst for Fox in Florida's upset of Ohio State in the BCS Championship Game.

Davis, 42, was a four-year starter in the secondary at Tennessee from 1983-86. His 13 career interceptions are tied for sixth place on the school's all-time list.

And while the media that covered UT in those days remember Davis as a good football player, they also remember him as a great interview.

"I always felt when I was interviewing him that he was using it as a training ground,'' said Bob Kesling, then a WBIR sports anchor and now Tennessee's play-by-play announcer.

Davis came to broadcasting in a roundabout way -- after a decade in various sports administrative jobs -- but stays busy as a man for all seasons.

Landing the BCS gig was a case of seizing an opportunity.

When Fox bought rights for the BCS games it had no college football framework in place. Davis, who has worked Pac 10 and Big 12 games for TBS the past five years, inquired and was selected to join the team of play-by-play man Thom Brennaman, former coach Barry Alvarez and sideline reporter Chris Myers.

The foursome worked several games off the air to develop chemistry before going live for an NFL game in December.

Davis' big chance almost vanished out from under him when a lingering throat condition flared up. His voice was failing on the BCS announcement show in early December.

"I sounded like I was going through puberty,'' he said.

Davis hustled to Beverly Hills, Calif., where Dr. Edward Kantor, well known in the entertainment industry, removed nodules from his vocal chords.

"They take me back in there,'' Davis said, "and he's got all these gold and platinum albums on the wall signed, 'Whitney,' 'Cher,' 'Madonna,' you name it.''

After 10 days of silence, Davis was good to go.

On New Year's Day, his crew worked the Fiesta Bowl, which produced one of the most exciting finishes in bowl history.

Davis correctly predicted that Boise State would try a two-point conversion in overtime, which it executed for a 43-42 victory over Oklahoma.

"Boise State is the underdog,'' Davis said. "The last thing you want to do is keep giving the better team opportunities.''

One week later, the BCS Championship Game was equally surprising as Florida manhandled favored Ohio State, 41-14.

"(Ohio State coach) Jim Tressel had the hardest job in the world,'' Davis said.

"For 51 days Ohio State has been sitting there hearing they're the best thing since sliced bread. And for 37 days, they've been hearing that Florida shouldn't even be here.''

Regardless of the outcome, it was the biggest assignment of Davis' career.

"I tried to do it like it was USC-Stanford,'' he said, "but you know it's the national championship so how will you handle your nerves?

"It's like being a player. Are you going to try to do more than you need to? But once you get through the opening, guess what: it's another football game.''

Davis and crew garnered mixed reviews.

"You love the positive,'' he said, "and the negative can absolutely destroy you if you let it. I took my wife's advice - let it go, just let it go.''

The feedback from his extended UT family was, naturally, positive.

His old coach, Johnny Majors, called with congratulations. So did a number of his teammates and athletic director Mike Hamilton.

Davis' schedule precludes making it back to any Tennessee games. Missing the 1985 "Sugar Vols" 20-year reunion especially hurt.

"I was at UCLA-Cal and dying because I couldn't get back for that weekend,'' he said.

Davis lives in Orlando with Lisa and their daughter Taylor, 13, and son Parker, 9.

It was a marketing job with Disney's sports division that brought Davis to Orlando. He had previously worked with the U.S. Olympic Committee and Stanford University.

One August day in 1997, the phone rang with an offer from Fox Sports to broadcast a Mississippi State football game.

"I had never done a single game,'' he said. "It was seven days away.''

Fox had gotten his name from Mark Whitworth, an SEC administrator who had known Davis at UT and figured he might be pretty good in a broadcast booth.

One gig led to another and then another.

The son of a high school basketball coach in New Paltz, N.Y., Davis talked his way into his first hoops assignment, a Sunshine Network exhibition game at Florida State at midnight on Halloween.

"Nobody wanted to work it,'' he said, "and from Sunshine's perspective, nobody's going to see it.

"The next Monday, I get a call and they tell me get out my calendar and give them 13 games.''

In the years since, there's no telling where Davis will turn up - college football and basketball, Arena Football, the NBA playoffs, even the Golf Channel.

"I always thought Charles would be great at broadcasting,'' Kesling said. "Once the door was open, Charles would sell himself.''