Charlie Davies' Full Circle: How Perseverance Shaped a Survivor

How being one of America's most promising strikers to relearning how to walk and fighting cancer has shaped Charlie Davies' life after his career in soccer.

Charlie Davies let go of the metal bars at his sides as he slowly stretched his right leg forward. His foot touched the ground and he took a deep breath before following the movement with his left leg.

Having suffered a nearly fatal car accident during the peak of his career, Davies found himself at a rehab center in Washington, D.C. relearning how to walk at the age of 24. Davies rebuilt himself after returning to the MLS until a cancer diagnosis ended his playing career. Despite retiring from the sport, the Boston College alumni stayed involved in soccer as a host and analyst on CBS’s Golazo Show and Morning Footy.

“I’m blessed,” said Davies. “I didn't come from much, you know, it's like ‘started from the bottom now we're here’ – like, I really started from the bottom.”

Raised in Manchester, New Hampshire, Davies learned to play soccer from a young age from his father, Kofi, a Gambian immigrant. Davies played in local recreational leagues and travel teams until the age of 12. However, Davies had little access to watching professional soccer 

“I never had access to cable or satellite to watch these matches,” Davies said. “It would be one of those things where I go over to a friend's house. I remember I had a friend that was Argentine and they were big River Plate fans and so there would be occasions where Rivers playing Boca or the Argentine national team was playing and those would be instances where I get to watch international football but other than that, it didn't exist.”

Davies felt that not being able to watch games hindered his exposure to the professional aspect of the sport. When Davies turned 12, his father decided to move the family to Massachusetts so Davies could play at a more competitive level. He joined the Central Massachusetts Bandits before switching over to play for the Boston Bolts. While playing closer to Boston gave him the opportunity to gain the interest of the Brooks School in North Andover, it also provided him with an escape from problems at home.

“How did I get to this position where I'm so lucky to have traveled the world?” Davies said while reflecting on where he came from. “This kid from Manchester, New Hampshire, who was on food stamps. I mean my mother had a severe mental illness and my father had a severe drug addiction.”

His time at Brooks saw him break out as a fierce goalscorer, earn invitations to USMNT youth camps, and earn All-American honors. Following his graduation from high school, Davies accepted an athletic scholarship to play college soccer at Boston College.

At BC, then head coach Edmond Kelly took him under his arm as Davies got his first taste of college soccer. Before Davies began his sophomore season, he tore his meniscus and missed the season.

“That was a dark, difficult time because it was the first time in my life I didn't have the sport to play to get me through tough times,” Davies said. “So you know, that's when friends and family and my wife, who was my girlfriend then, and the coaching staff and Kelly, they really helped get me through that time.”

Davies spent much of his recovery with Christopher Brown, the goalkeeper on the team who missed both his freshmen and sophomore seasons due to ACL injuries. Both players formed a tight bond driven by competitiveness as they recovered. Davies and Brown spent countless hours during their sophomore year one-upping themselves in the gym, playing poker or FIFA, and even while stretching. 

“We did a lot of our rehab together,” Brown said. “And, man, I just saw his mindset throughout the whole process and I learned a great deal from him.”

Davies returned his junior year scoring 15 goals, the most single-season goals by an individual in BC’s history. He also won the Hermann Trophy, awarded to the country’s top collegiate soccer player, and the All-ACC Offensive Player of the Year. 

That season, Davies displayed his prowess and skill as a striker in an away game against Maryland. In front of 6,214 fans, Davies scored two goals and forced a red card for Maryland goalkeeper Chris Steitz. The match was viewed with much anticipation as Davies faced off against a Maryland team with future USMNT players such as Graham Zusi, Omar Gonzalez, and AJ DeLaGarza.

At the end of the season, Davies decided not to remain in college and to go overseas to pursue a professional career in Europe. Davies chose to go on trial that summer with AFC Ajax despite having interest from Roma, Marseille, and Celtic. 

Davies impressed at the trial, but in the final game of the trial, with all of the Ajax executives watching, he pulled a muscle and tried playing through it. Out of fear of his injuries, Ajax offered him to stay as an un-contracted trial player, but Davies felt that he deserved a professional contract. Devastated, Davies packed his bags looking to return home before trying to find a new opportunity.

Yet Davies missed his flight.

Hammarby, a first division Swedish club, offered him a contract without taking him on trial. 

“I flew to Stockholm and had dinner with the coach the night before I signed my contract,” Davies said. “Tony Gustavsson, who is the Australian women's national team coach who did really well this past World Cup, was the one who sold me on the project and ultimately built my confidence and gave me kind of the foundation I needed as a professional.”

Davies responded to the trust shown in him by scoring 25 goals in 64 games for Hammarby in the three years he spent there. In the summer of 2007, Davies earned his first call-up for the USMNT and debuted during a 4-1 victory against China in a friendly match. Davies eventually got more attention from the USMNT after his performances in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

“It's a dream come true,” said Davies about going to the Olympics. “So, you know, I look back at it, and I say, ‘Wow, how much I achieved and I could achieve more but it wasn't meant to be.’ And that's okay because look how far I came. An eighth grade math teacher told me I would never make it when I was having recommendations that had to be signed for Brooks and, you know, there are a lot of people who would never think that I would be able to have done what I've done.”

Making the Olympics squad gave Davies access to a bunch of gear and equipment. He sent thousands of dollars in Nike gear to Brown and other long-time friends.

“He just let me go to town on Nike,” Brown said. “Like not a lot of people do that. They would save it for themselves, but he just had a really good heart and still does to this day.”

In 2009, Davies hit his peak as he cemented his spot on the USMNT and got a move to Sochaux then in France’s Ligue 1. That summer Davies played a significant role in the USMNT’s runner-up finishes in the CONCACAF Gold Cup and the FIFA Confederations Cup.

Davies entered the 2009-10 season with his eyes set on soccer’s biggest stage – the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Despite his role in helping the USA qualify, Davies would miss out on playing the first World Cup held in his father’s continent due to a fatal car accident after an event in Washington, D.C.

“That was the lowest point of my life,” he said. “ I went from calling on my family and my friends: ‘Hey, we play in South Africa, the first World Cup on African soil to we don't know if you're going to live. We don't know if you're going to be able to walk. Oh, by the way, you survived but someone didn't. At that point, you can only look at life two ways: One, regret in a negative manner, or I still have a life. I had this feeling of embarrassment and I'm ashamed. So the only thing I could do is pick myself up off the floor at work and see how far I could make it.”

Within a year, Davies managed to re-learn how to walk, finished rehabilitation and made his return to Sochaux. After his return to France, it was clear that his body was not the same and he decided to move to Randers FC in Denmark to play at a less competitive level.

Problems with coaches at Randers saw him return to the MLS to play for D.C. United, then the Philadelphia Union, and finally the New England Revolution, his childhood club. In his time at the Revolution, he scored 22 goals while providing 10 assists across four seasons.

In the 2014 MLS Cup playoffs, Davies scored a brace in the first leg of the conference semi-finals against the Columbus Crew in a 2-4 win. In the second leg of the conference final against the New York Red Bulls, Davies scored a header from the edge of the six-yard box in the 41st minute to put the Revs up 3-2 in the aggregate score. After the Red Bulls tied up the aggregate score, Davies headed in a cross from Chris Tierney in the 71st minute to send the Revolution to the MLS Cup Final. His four goals and one assist in the playoffs helped the Revolution advance to its latest MLS Cup appearance.

Davies eventually returned to the Union where he retired after doctors found he had a life-threatening tumor.

“As bad as it was, and I did think that that would probably be the end of me, that cancer diagnosis,” said Davies. “And I look at all these things and think, ‘Man what a what a life.’ So many life lessons – and in the end, I never lost track of just how precious every day is.”

Having to step away from playing soccer led Davies to return to BC as an assistant coach for Kelly. Davies then started to work as an analyst and pundit on CBS where he is breaking into mainstream media as a person of color and a role model for young soccer fans.

“I knew there's got to be a reason why I'm still alive,” Davies said. “There was a pastor at the Washington Hospital who came into my room and said, ‘You shouldn't be here, but you are here so there's a bigger purpose for you.’ Now I feel there's nothing I can’t overcome or conquer or get through. Because when you nearly lose your life and you're given another chance, everything else is extra credit.”

Seven years before Davies was diagnosed with cancer, Brown mentioned a kid he was coaching at St. Mary’s College in California to Davies. The player, Emmanuel “Morro” Sarabia, found out he had leukemia and would have to start treatment. Davies called Sarabia and spoke to him about overcoming the car accident. Every year since Davies speaks to whatever team Brown is coaching.

“He’s a survivor, someone who’s overcome so many obstacles,” said Boston College athletic director Blake James, who inducted Davies into the hall of fame. “He’s an example of what BC stands for and we’re proud to have him as an example.”