Early Life
Davis was born in Chicago, Illinois. His father, Reginald Shuck, picked his son's name (Shani) out of a Swahili dictionary. The English translation is a mixture of "light" and "weight". Davis learned to roller skate at the age of 2. By the time he was 3, he could skate so quickly that he had to be slowed down by the rink's skate guards. Davis's mother worked for a local lawyer and speed skating official whose son was an elite level speed skater. At the lawyer's suggestion, his mother enrolled her son at the Robert Crown Center in nearby Evanston when he was six years old. Within two months, Davis was winning regional races in his age groups, earning the admiration of his friends and Northbrook rivals alike.
Determined that her son reach his maximum potential, his mother would wake Davis up in the mornings to run a mile on a nearby track to build up his endurance. In order to be closer to his skating club, she and Davis moved from the neighborhood of Hyde Park to Rogers Park.
Read more about this topic: Shani Davis
Famous quotes containing the words early and/or life:
“the cluttered eyes
of early mysterious night.”
—Imamu Amiri Baraka (b. 1934)
“Women generally should be taught that the rough life men must needs lead, in order to be healthy, useful and manly men, would preclude the possibility of a great degree of physical perfection, especially in color. It is not a bad reflection to know that in all probability the human animal has endowments enough without aspiring to be the beauty of all creation as well as the ruler.”
—Caroline Nichols Churchill (1833–?)