Davies, a 196cm scoring freak with an unstoppable outside shot he released from behind his head, was the first in a new breed of Australian player who had everything his American counterparts possessed.
In fact in 1980 when Davies, an unheralded Tasmanian from Longford, a small farming town about 12km south of Launceston, burst onto the NBL scene, he became the first Aussie to draw packed houses wherever he played.
With a hybrid American accent, it was evident from Day One he had a story unlike any of his Tassie, US or Launceston Casino City teammates.
He had endured some fairly lean years growing up with basketball in the American mid-west, unwanted by the coach at Galesburg High School in Illinois, even though he regularly schooled team members in schoolyard scrimmages.
"I did not play on an organised team until I was 17, which was my senior year in high school," Davies said. "I can say I'm a self-made basketballer.
"My peers from 13 to 17 were playing in teams and I was not. I was just playing backyard.
"I got dropped from my high school team as a 16-year-old."
Eight years later, Davies would lead the scoring at the Moscow Olympic Games, delivering 29.9 points per game, becoming the second Australian to achieve the feat after Eddie Palubinskas in 1976.
"I just made it from all the practice I had on my own," Davies said. "The American coaches polished my skills up a bit."
Davies honed his skills in backyard games during freezing Illinois winters, believing those early days were the secret to his shooting success.
"We used to have to play with two or three pairs of pants on and two or three pairs of gloves," he said.
"You would get used to that and after you took your gloves off, it would come easy.
"Shooting requires a lot of fingertip control and after a while it just comes naturally. I have always been known for my range and can go out to 10m and still shoot accurately."
The only son of Joan and Fred Davies, Fred played VFL football for Carlton from 1948-50 before moving to Longford as a captain-coach.
Davies, a 196cm scoring freak with an unstoppable outside shot he released from behind his head, was the first in a new breed of Australian player who had everything his American counterparts possessed.
