WEST LAFAYETTE – It’s not hard at all to understand how much Brock Davis enjoys his role on the Purdue men’s basketball team.

Just spend a few minutes talking to the WCHS graduate and it becomes crystal clear.

Davis, who played basketball for the Tigers, is in his fourth year as a manager for coach Matt Painter’s team.

“My job here is great,” said Davis in a recent phone interview from West Lafayette. “It’s such an honor to be part of this program.”

Davis, who is studying pharmacy, has two passions in his life, hoops and the fight versus cancer.

Davis saw the two come together recently as he was featured on a piece on ESPNU during Jimmy V Week, which raises money in honor of the former North Carolina State coach for cancer research. Davis was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) after his second birthday. He underwent two years of chemotherapy treatments and was declared cancer free after his fourth birthday and cured of cancer in 2003.

“It was neat and pretty cool to do that,” Davis said. “People back home (in Warsaw) know my story. It was cool to see the response from my Purdue classmates who did not know about my cancer.

“Jimmy V Week hits home to me. The fight versus cancer and basketball are two things that I’m so passionate about. I would just tell people with cancer don’t give up, just like Coach Valvano said.  There is always something you can try in terms of treatment and people do care.”

Davis did not play a lot his senior year at WCHS as the team featured former Tiger star and current SMU player Nic Moore.  He got connected with the Purdue men’s program thanks in part to WCHS boys basketball coach Doug Ogle and his friendship with coach Painter.

“I was definitely nervous coming in here, but it’s like a family,” said Davis. “The players and the coaches are all great to the managers here.”

Davis and the rest of the managers, some 13 in all, report to work two hours before a home game to get the water, towels and basketballs ready. They then rebound for the players who come in early to shoot. Davis sits behind the Purdue bench as a senior manager and takes care of water bottles and some statistical work. The managers are then responsible for cleaning the locker rooms following the game.

“It’s fun being behind the bench, but I’m so involved with my job that I really can’t watch the game,” remarked Davis. “I do watch basketball different now on TV. I watch the managers to see what they are doing during timeouts.”

“A good manager is punctual; hard working and pays attention. If you do that, you are going to be fine.”

Davis, the son of Ray and Tammy Davis, says he is partial to one player on the Purdue roster and that is junior guard Rapheal Davis, who played at both Fort Wayne South and La Lumiere in high school.

“Rapheal likes to talk up Fort Wayne and we played them when I was at Warsaw,” related Davis. “We beat them and I remind him all the time that Nic and I scored 52 points on them, Nic had 50 and I had two.”

“But all the players are really good guys here.”

Davis, who plans to be married to his high school sweetheart Cheaney Maierle on July 18, did get to travel to Maui with the team earlier this season.

That was one of the highlights of his time at Purdue, according to the young man who grew up as an avid North Carolina fan.

“Our win over Brigham Young in Maui and our win over Indiana at Mackey last year,” said Davis of his top memories.