By Virgil Dickson
Austin American-Statesman (Texas)
Copyright 2006 The Austin American-Statesman
All Rights Reserved
Willie Ray Davis, Austin’s first black Fire Department captain, died Monday morning of emphysema, according to longtime friend Louie White, a retired Austin police captain. Davis was 82.
In 1952, Davis, Nathaniel Hawthorne Kindred and Roy Dale Green became the first three black Austin firefighters.
In an essay Davis wrote when he was new to the force in the mid-1950s, he said he became a firefighter because as a child he would ponder why none of the faces peering from the fire trucks was black. He recalled that he and his friends would never dream of being firemen; they associated it with a white child’s dream.
Jeff Cohen, president of the Austin Fire Department Museum, said Davis won firefighter of the year in 1966 for rescuing a baby from a burning building. Eight years later, he became a captain, making him the first person of color to hold the honor.
“He was a trailblazer when he made rank; it opened up a lot of doors for us,” said White, who went on to be one of the first black captains in the Police Department.
White, who was friends with Davis for 60 years, recalls that times were hard for them when they started in their positions.
“When you try to supervise a race of people who had never been supervised by black people, you have a lot of problems,” White said.
Cohen said he has yet to encounter someone with as much character as Davis. He also cited Davis’ hiring as a monumental steppingstone.
“He wasn’t just a token; he was just some guy who happened to be black, and he was a great person and a great firefighter.”
Davis, a World War II veteran, served 30 years before retiring. He fought fires for 25 years before spending his last five years in the fire prevention unit.
Davis’ family was unavailable for comment Monday. Funeral arrangements were not released.