Quincy Davis (basketball)

Childhood and education

Davis was born in Los Angeles, California in an African American family. He graduated from McGill-Toolen Catholic High School in Mobile, Alabama in 2002 before going on to Tulane University, where he played for Tulane Green Wave men's basketball. As a freshman, in a game against the University of Southern Mississippi he matched the school record for single-game field goal percentage. In his four-year career there until 2006, he scored a total of 1,106 points, including 56 games with more than 10 points and 12 with more than 20. He collected 559 rebounds, including 226 offensive rebounds, making him one of just fourteen players in school history to achieve both a thousand points and five hundred rebounds. He also set the school record with a .577 career field goal percentage.

Early career

Davis first went overseas to play for ETHA Engomis in Cyprus in 2006. The next season, he played in Portugal. In February 2008 he signed with Deportivo Táchira, a Liga Profesional de Baloncesto team in Venezuela. There, he appeared in eight games, averaging 5.5 points per game. The following year, he moved to mainland China to play in the National Basketball League. After his next season in Turkey, he came to Taiwan to join Pure-Youth Construction in the Super Basketball League. In March 2012, he won SBL's Player of the Month award for leading his team to a 6–1 record that month with an average of 20.1 points, 14 rebounds, 1.9 blocks, two assists, and 1.4 steals per game.

Davis also became a partner in Coast To Coast Basketball, a basketball instruction institute founded in 2007 by fellow expatriate player Edward Hardy II.

Naturalization in Taiwan

The suggestion that Davis might join the Chinese Taipei men's national basketball team was first floated in January 2013 at the SBL 2012 MVP award ceremony. At the time, Davis stated that he was open to the idea of naturalizing as a Republic of China citizen so he could represent Taiwan in international competition. He said that of all the places in which he had played basketball, he felt happiest in Taiwan. However, naturalization would require him to renounce his United States citizenship, as Taiwan allows multiple nationality only for its own citizens who have emigrated, and not for immigrants applying to become new citizens. Furthermore, as Davis did not meet the ordinary residence requirements for naturalization and his case would thus be processed by special dispensation, Taiwan sports officials also had to lobby for the support of the Ministry of the Interior. Contract length and salary negotiations introduced further delays, until in May 2013 it was announced that Davis had agreed to a US$20,000/month, two-year contract and had officially applied for naturalization.

On 25 June 2013, Davis went to the American Institute in Taiwan, the de facto U.S. embassy, to renounce his citizenship. The AIT processed his case much more quickly than would have been done under normal procedures, and he received his Certificate of Loss of Nationality three days later, temporarily making him a stateless person. There remained doubts whether the Ministry of the Interior could complete all the procedures relating to his naturalization by the 12 July deadline for him to register for the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship, but in the end he was officially naturalized as a citizen of the Republic of China on 9 July. Taiwanese American players such as Richard Chang (張嗣漢) had previously joined the Chinese Taipei team, but Davis was the first American of another ethnic background to follow in their footsteps. Unlike other male citizens both naturalized and native-born, Davis will not be required to serve in the Republic of China Armed Forces, because men over 195 centimetres (6 ft 5 in) tall are exempt from conscription in Taiwan.

Later career

Davis played with the Chinese Taipei team in an exhibition game against visiting National Basketball Association players from his former country on 29 June, scoring 25 points. He then represented the Chinese Taipei team in the 2013 William Jones Cup and in the FIBA Championship 2013, where he scored an average of 14.7 points per game. Davis led the team to second place in the 2014 FIBA Asia Cup, scoring 19 points and grabbing 12 rebounds in the final game against Iran. Davis was barred from participating in the 2014 Asian Games because he had not fulfilled the residency requirements to represent Taiwan as a naturalized citizen.