A former collegiate basketball player is making the community she grew up in her home court.
DeKalb native A’jah Davis’s dream was to play basketball overseas, but her sense of community brought her back home. Her parents were student athletes at Northern Illinois University. Her mom played basketball, and her dad played football. Davis said after graduation, they stayed in the city and started a family. She’s the youngest of three children.
Davis attended DeKalb High School in her freshman year but then transferred to Montverde Academy in Florida and continued playing basketball there. When it was time for her to go to college, she followed in her parents’ footsteps and chose to attend NIU. Davis picked up where her mom left off and joined the university’s basketball team.
“My mom got sick my junior year," she said, "and I was like, 'I'm the youngest of three. Like, I want to be back home, close to my family.' So, when Coach Carlsen offered me, I was like, almost quick on my feet to just commit.”
She's referring to Lisa Carlsen, the former head women’s basketball coach at NIU. Carlsen said Davis cares deeply about DeKalb.
“Even in the recruiting process, while she wasn't going to high school here, "Carlsen said, "it was always very evident that this community was really, really important to her and her family, and I think because of that, it was kind of a no brainer in the process of trying to get her back home.”
Davis garnered national attention at NIU. She holds the record for the most career double-doubles in NIU’s women’s basketball history.
She went to Seton Hall in New Jersey as a graduate transfer. She said this move shook her world. She no longer had the home court advantage and her per game averages drastically decreased. She said her desire to play overseas started to dribble away even after she received a call to play in Portugal.
“I had three of those, four of those calls, sorry, with different teams,” she said, “and they all fell through once they saw my stats at Seton Hall, and it was like, you know, ‘she went from being top five in the country with double-doubles to not even, her stats are worse than her freshman year. So, like, what happened?' And it turned the teams, a lot of teams away.”
Davis said this gave her a feeling of defeat. She needed a rebound in life. She talked with her coach to come up with a plan. She started volunteering at the local Boys and Girls Club. Davis ran summer basketball camps back home, so this work complemented that. She wanted to continue these camps but needed to find a way to fund them. Friends and family had helped her in the past.
A friend who leads foundations suggested she start one. She said as a college student she didn’t have the money it took to start the foundation, so she brushed that suggestion off.
She came back home in April of 2024 and thought about the idea. She was going to give it a try. Then, she said, out of nowhere she received a call from a team in Mexico. She went to play in July. Davis said her numbers picked up and things were fine, but something was missing.
"The three pillars of my life, family, community and basketball," she explained. "Those things coexist, like those things have to work in my life for me to be happy."
Her plan was to go back overseas after the winter holidays. During that time, she was licensed to be a long-term substitute teacher with the DeKalb School District. She volunteered at her original high school and was hired as an assistant coach.
“I'm like, this is the basketball piece I'm missing,” she said. “I'm able to coach basketball. I'm able to have my community back. I have my family here. I am okay, like, I feel at peace.”
Davis said she no longer has the desire to get back on a plane to play overseas. She circled back to the foundation idea and will tip off the A’jah Davis Foundation this year. She said she wants to continue to give back to the community she grew up in.
“They say a lot of good things don't come out of there,” she added, “and I'm a product of it. Like … there's something good that does come out of the University Village.”
Davis said the children need all the support that they can get.
“Some of them, have no idea about basketball, but like, they see someone that is positive in their life, that shows up for them every single day at school,” she said. “And I’m willing to get my hands dirty when it comes to basketball because that's what I play."
Carlsen said Davis is one of those players that she will continue to have fond memories of.
“Such a great success story, right? And I think anytime you have somebody that really understands how to use their profile and their," she said, "you know, status for the things that she's doing right now, it'll continue to be a great story.”
A charity weekend for the foundation will take place next week. Starting with a gala on Friday, May 23, followed by a basketball and wellness camp from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, May 24, at DeKalb High School. More than 100 children have signed up for this free camp. Davis will also offer mini camps during the city’s summer Fun Jam. The 24-year-old said she is working on bringing a basketball tournament to DeKalb.
