Warsaw junior Brock Davis has overcome a number of obstacles to live out his dream of playing basketball for the Warsaw Tigers. Photo by Daniel Riordan, Times-Union
Warsaw junior Brock Davis has overcome a number of obstacles to live out his dream of playing basketball for the Warsaw Tigers. Photo by Daniel Riordan, Times-Union
There's a chance Warasw Community High School junior Brock Davis' name won't show up on the stat sheet from Saturday night's Class 4A boys basketball state championship game.

He may not hit a go-ahead three-pointer or a clutch free throw at the end of the game.
But after all he and his family has been through, Davis doesn't need to even step foot on the floor of Conseco Fieldhouse to prove he's a winner.

Davis was born May 30, 1992 to Ray and Tammy Davis. The oldest of three boys, Brock had barely turned 2 when a trip to Kosciusko Community Hospital would change he and his family's life forever.

On June 4, 1994, Ray and Tammy's six-year wedding anniversary, Brock went to the hospital with little red dots all over his chest.

"At first we thought they were measles," said Ray. "They ran a blood test on him and found out it was Leukemia. That day we went to Riley's."

In the span of a few hours, the Davis' life changed.

"As they were wheeling him out on the stretcher into the the ambulance, before the door closed he reached out and said 'Daddy, daddy'," said Ray.

While Tammy rode in the ambulance, Ray made the long, lonely drive to Riley's Hospital for Children in Indianapolis.

When he arrived, the Davises found out what their life would be like for the next three years.

Brock's Acute lymphocytic leukemia, would put the 2-year-old on a three-year program.

That program included chemotherapy sessions.

Brock said he remembered the chemo and the doctor's visits.

"When I was little I thought every kid went through stuff like that," said Brock. "I thought it was normal."

Every time Brock's temperature would spike up to 101 degrees, his parents would have to take him to the hospital.

The cancer went into remission after two months of treatment but the program continued.

There was a brief respite from things when the Make-A-Wish Foundation took Brock, his parents and little brother Brant down to Disneyworld in Orlando.

When Brock was 5, things seemed to return to normal.

His love of sports grew, as he played baseball and basketball.

"Basketball has always been his life's love," said Ray.

And he, along with brothers Brant, a sophomore on the Warsaw boys soccer team, and Brigham, a 7th grade athlete, Brock spent hours upon hours playing sports.

Things turned again when a visit to the school nurse for scoliosis found Brock, then in 8th grade, had a slight curvature of the spine.

But a follow-up visit to the doctor showed something far worse.

His L5 had broken off his vertebrae and began fusing into his pelvis.

Doctors in Indianapolis fused his spine and put two rods and four screws in his back.

Just months after that surgery, Brock played in his first game on the freshman squad.

In that game, Brock dove for a loose ball and an opponent ended up stepping on his back.

"We were watching and we all kind of looked at each other. Me, my wife and (freshman coach) Jeff Grose all kind of shot each other a look like 'Is he ok?'," said Ray. "But he popped back up.

"He's not the biggest kid out there but he'll dive for ball, take charges, whatever the team needs," said Ray.

"Brock is a very good steward leader," said Warsaw head coach Doug Ogle. "This has been the first time in his career that he's not playing a lot. But all he does is work hard in practice."

Brock's job now is to push fellow junior Nic Moore during every practice.

"It's obviously a different role for me but I'm trying to do whatever I can to make Nic better," said Brock.

And its making Brock better going against one of, if not the top, point guard in the state and a potential 2011 Mr. Basketball.

"He's one of those guys in practice that will do every little thing coach asks him to do," said Moore. "A lot of times the coaches have him be the other team's best player, have him play me tight and foul me, and he'll do his best to play that role."

And for Moore it extends beyond basketball.

"We've been friends since we were little," said Moore. "He's like one of my brothers."

And nowadays the Davis family is adding to Tiger Basketball in another way.

While Brock is pushing Moore in practice, Ray is the color analyst with Roger Grossman for all the games on WRSW and ESPN 1480.

Grossman and Ray go way back as Ray was the head coach at Argos soon after Grossman graduated from the Marshall County school.

Having known each other for years, the duo have an easy back and forth on the air.

In fact, Ray was a groomsmen in Grossman's wedding.

"I've known Ray since 1986," said Grossman. "We go way back."

And that's why Grossman said, it's been no problem for him to let Ray stop being a radio guy and be a dad during the tournament run.

In both the regional and semistate, Grossman let Ray go off the air at the game's conclusion so he could be on the court with his son.

"The least I can do is turn him loose so he can celebrate with his son and Tiger Nation," said Grossman.

Brock and the rest of the Davis family will be on hand in Indianapolis Saturday night as the No. 6 Tigers play third-ranked Indianapolis North Central and try to earn their first state title in boys basketball since 1984.