McKinley "Deacon" Davis
The CHANCE Program is named for its founder, McKinley “Deacon” Davis. A basketball star from Freeport, Illinois who went on to play for the Harlem Globetrotters, Davis brought to NIU a vision shaped by years of traveling the country and witnessing firsthand the barriers that kept talented students out of higher education. In 1968, he and NIU President Rhoten Smith turned that vision into the CHANCE Program. More than 50 years later, the program Davis created continues to help thousands of Huskies earn their degrees every year.
About Deacon Davis
McKinley “Deacon” Davis is born in Freeport, Illinois.
Davis graduates from Freeport Senior High School, where he played on the State Championship basketball team and earned All-State honors.
Davis graduates from the University of Iowa with 2nd Team All-American and 1st Team All-Big Ten Conference honors.
Davis plays for the Harlem Globetrotters. Traveling the country, he visits high schools across the United States and begins to envision a program to help students who face significant barriers to a college education.
NIU President Rhoten Smith appoints Davis as director of special programs and tasks him with founding a new initiative to support students who show talent and potential but face significant obstacles to a college education. Davis and Smith create CHANCE, an acronym for Counseling, Help and Assistance Necessary for a College Education. The first class numbers just 50 students.
Davis becomes the Executive Director of Intercollegiate Athletics at NIU. Rev. Leroy Mitchell succeeds him as CHANCE director and leads the program for the next 28 years.
Davis works as a national sales director at Primerica Financial Services/Travelers Group until his death in 2003.
NIU President John Peters rededicated the program as “The McKinley ‘Deacon’ Davis CHANCE Program” in honor of its founder.
Davis was a basketball star at Freeport High School and the University of Iowa before joining the Harlem Globetrotters from 1955 to 1957.
McKinley “Deacon” Davis counsels a student at NIU. Davis founded the CHANCE Program in 1968 and served as its director until 1978.
Contact Us
McKinley “Deacon” Davis CHANCE ProgramPeters Campus Life Building 240
Phone: 815-753-0201
Fax: 815-753-1929
Email: chance@niu.edu