University of North Carolina Athletics
Walston: Making A Difference
April 21, 2011 | Football
April 21, 2011
By Turner Walston, TarHeelBlue.com
Chapel Hill - Like it has many Americans, cancer has touched the lives of Butch and Tammy Davis. When Butch Davis was a senior in high school, he lost his mother to cancer. The Tar Heel head coach himself was treated for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma four years ago. Tammy has had three close family members diagnosed with the disease, and she has lost a brother and an aunt.
In the highly-visible position of head football coach at Carolina, Butch Davis recognizes that he and his family have an opportunity to make a philanthropic impact on the community.
"As a family we sit down and try to say, `OK, you can't be involved in absolutely everything, but if we're going to make a legitimate serious commitment to a couple of things, what are those going to be?'" he said.
The SECU Family House at UNC Hospitals seemed like a natural fit for the Davises. The house provides a place to stay for families of adult patients being treated at UNC Hospitals. The facility provides bus service to and from hospital facilities, a laundry area, a library, and the comforts of community for families caring for their loved ones.
"A lot of people don't realize that it's kind of the adult version of the Ronald McDonald House," Davis said. "It gives families a place to stay that's affordable, and it's close, and they don't have to get up and make a three-hour drive and then sit there and get three hours of chemotherapy. I think it's great for the community and we enjoy being involved in it."
This month, the Davises will host the third annual Butch and Tammy Davis Tailgate Golf Tournament and BBQ to benefit the SECU Family House at UNC Hospitals. This year's event will take place on April 28 and 29.
On Thursday, April 28, the Davies will host the tailgate barbecue on the site of the Family House at 123 Mason Farm Road in Chapel Hill. Registration is $50 a person and the event features a short program, live music and silent and live auctions. Woody Durham will emcee the event. On the next day, the sold-out golf tournament will take place at UNC Finley Golf Course.
Over the last two years, the tailgate and golf tournament have raised more than $250,000. In 2008, the Davises underwrote one of the Family House bedrooms. In the years since, they have heard from family members of UNC Hospitals patients who were helped through difficult times during their stays at the SECU Family House.
Matt Trainum wrote one of those letters. Last summer, his father was diagnosed with lung cancer. The family would travel several times each week from Henrico, N.C., on Lake Gaston, to UNC Hospitals. The Trainums found the SECU Family House and, on one of their visits, stayed in the Butch and Tammy Davis room. Amid the stress and sadness of their father's illness, the family found some comfort in the SECU Family House. Matt sent an email to Butch Davis relating his personal experience. "Every time I walk in that house, I feel the love of those who gave to make it possible. And I just want to say thank you for that," he wrote.
"It's always unbelievably touching and heartwarming when you hear stories of how it really made a difference in someone's life," Butch Davis said. "You like to know that all your hard work and your effort are actually really truly doing what it's supposed to do, and when you do get letters or you get calls and you run into people it's always really kind of heartwarming and gratifying."
