2017  Honorary Chair - Bill Davidge

 

Bill Davidge played hockey at Ohio State, earning scholar-athlete recognition in each of

his seasons as a Buckeye before graduating with honors in 1976. After serving the

1977-78 season as a graduate assistant coach at Miami (Ohio) University, he was hired

as an assistant coach and served in that capacity for eight seasons. In 1985, he was

promoted to head coach and spent four seasons behind the bench before retiring to

spend more time with his family and continuing to teach at Miami as a professor in the

physical education department. A native of Dunville, Ontario, he is the father of two

sons, Rob (married to Morgan), Willy J., and a daughter, Miranda. He and his wife

Jayna reside in Dublin.

 

The 2016-17 season was the 15th in which Bill Davidge has provided color analysis for

the Blue Jackets. He brings over 30 years of hockey experience as a player, scout and

coach to game broadcasts on the FOX Sports Ohio and prior to joining the broadcast

team spent the 1999-00 season as a scout for the Blue Jackets. Prior to that he was a

scout for the Florida Panthers and Detroit Red Wings.

 

In the summer of 2014 Davidge was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a cancer of the

blood plasma that also impacts the bone marrow. As a hockey player growing up he

prided himself on his toughness and he had to call on that trait again in a fight, literally,

for his life.

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On July 25, 2016 Davidge tweeted, “my oncologist called. CANCER FREE. Not a cure of

my Multiple Myeloma but total remission. Thanks for all the prayers and thoughts.

#Blessed”

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He is no stranger to adversity. In 1985, Davidge’s first wife, Leanne, was killed in a car

accident. Leanne was the women’s tennis coach at Miami and they had a young son

Rob. While at Ohio State, Leanne was a Delta Gamma sorority sister of Dena Logan

and an All-American tennis play for the Buckeyes. Leanne is in the Ohio State Athletics

HOF and her father Bill Grimes was a teammate of Dick Logan’s at Ohio State.

An endowed scholarship “The Leanne Grimes-Davidge Award” is presented annually to

a female athlete who reflects Leanne’s outstanding qualities of athletic performance,

scholarship, character, campus or community involvement and leadership. Bill Davidge

serves as the Master of Ceremonies for the Ohio State Scholar-Athlete event that

honors student-athletes who have excelled in their sport and in the classroom and

community.

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Somehow it all seems right that Bill Davidge serve as the Honoree at the 14 th Annual

Logan Family Foundation Celebrity Golf Classic.