His office in the Slep Student Center is about as different from a professional basketball court as you can get, but Nathan Davis is at home with both.
The Blair County native attended Seton Hill University, graduating in 2020 with a B.A. in Spanish education. Since both his parents are teachers, it felt natural for him to follow the path of education. He thought a Spanish focus would open a variety of doors and give him opportunities to connect and build relationships with people from other cultures.
But truthfully, that was all just a backup plan. What Davis really wanted to do was play professional basketball.
Growing up, Davis was surrounded by the game. Both of his parents were talented college players and carried their love for it into parenthood.
“It was always around. Back when I was just a little guy, I'd shoot hoops with them, and I really gravitated toward it. I loved watching it, thinking about it, and playing it. It was a chemical thing, really, my first love.”
When Davis got to high school, he devoted all of his energy and passion to the game. He hoped to get an athletic scholarship to play in college and had ambitions of being on a Division 1 team.
Things didn’t quite work out the way he wanted, but he did receive offers from two D2 universities. He chose Seton Hill, pleased with its academic reputation and the credentials of the basketball program, the Seton Hill Griffins. He played point guard and shooting guard for the team.
“I had an awesome experience. I really developed as a player, getting stronger and quicker each year. By the time I was a senior, I had put together quite a good career.”
Of course, his dream was to play for the big time—the NBA, the premier professional basketball league in North America. But Davis was under no illusions. He understood his chances of making the roster.
So, in the spring of 2020, when an agent reached out to offer to represent him for minor-league opportunities overseas, Davis signed with him.
His first contract was with Citybasket Recklinghausen, a team that competes in Germany.
Nathan Davis fights through a defender for a layup during his rookie season in Germany for Citybasket Recklinghausen.
Credit: Provide by Nathan Davis
“I would have gone anywhere in the world, but Germany was a great place to start my career. Just being able to play the game and get paid for it was a dream come true.”
Davis says he was playing well, averaging about 20 points a game with good numbers for assists and rebounds. But just when he was starting to find his groove and reach his full potential—covid.
“I felt like I was going to have a really good second half of the season and help take the team through the playoffs. It was a real bummer when the league got canceled.”
Adding injury to insult, later that year while trying out for a team in the States, Davis badly hurt his knee and needed surgery. He was out for most of 2021.
“It was a pretty bleak time. I had barely gotten off the ground in Germany, and then I had this insanely hard recovery ahead of me. I didn’t know if I’d be able to keep my career going.”
But Davis dug in and went to work with conviction and faith and says after several months of rehab, he emerged as a better athlete and player.
He next signed with a team in Albania and played shooting guard. It was a position that wouldn’t put the ball in his hands much, so he had to find other ways to make an impact, mostly through aggressive defense or marking players on the full court. His chances to score came through the occasional three-pointer or attacking off the dribble.
Davis enjoyed playing on the team, loved the beauty of the country, and appreciated the new connections and relationships he made, but the experience was short lived. It wasn’t because of a global pandemic or an injury. This time, it came down to money. Davis and several other players were not getting paid on time or at all, so amid financial uncertainty and tension, Davis left after a couple of months and returned home.
Taking the floor, Nathan Davis converses with his teammates on KB Vllaznia in Albania during the 2021 season.
Credit: Provided by Nathan Davis
Would a third chance be the charm?
In the spring of 2022, Davis got a call from a club in Melbourne, Australia, with an offer to play for the McKinnon Cougars.
From the moment he arrived, Davis felt good. He loved his life off the court, saying the city was great, the people were kind, and being so close to the beach really fit his energy.
On the court, things were clicking, as well.
“My coaches really valued who I was as a player and what I could bring. They were giving me lots of opportunities to be the best version of myself.”
The team made it to the league semifinals, and Davis was offered a contract for 2023, which he accepted.
That next season turned out to be both amazing and heartbreaking. Davis says he was playing the best basketball of his life during that time. The team made it to playoffs again, but then—disaster. Davis hurt his other knee and couldn’t play in the final game, which the team won 90-74.
Nathan Davis puts up a finger roll for the McKinnon Cougars during the 2023 championship season in Australia.
Credit: Provided by Nathan Davis
“I was just I was just beside myself. There were a lot of mixed emotions. Even though I couldn’t play that last game, I still became a champion with my teammates. We got the trophy and the rings, and I was grateful. But I was also disappointed I wasn’t on the court for the final, and I knew the tough road that was ahead of me.”
Davis had surgery in Melbourne, then flew back home to begin the long, arduous process of recovery.
Although he’d been hopeful, he wasn’t going to be fit and ready for the start of the 2024 season with McKinnon so his contract wasn’t renewed.
It would have been so easy for Davis to throw in the towel then. No one would have faulted him for saying enough is enough.
“But I just had this conviction that it was not my time. I was not ready to give up. I wanted to give it one more go.”
His determination and drive paid off, and in the fall of 2024, he moved to Galway, Ireland, to play for Maree BC in the division of the country.
Davis says having gone through two knee surgeries and getting the opportunity to play again in a new country was exciting. He was grateful for the accompanying cultural experience.
But.
No, there was no global pandemic. There was no injury. There were no missed paychecks.
This time, what ended Davis’s contract was that the general manager who signed him falsified some of his documents and was subsequently banned from the league for several years. Because Davis didn’t have the correct documents, he wasn’t able to continue playing for Basketball Ireland. He was back home at the start of 2025, just a few months after starting with the team.
Nathan Davis sports his Maree BC jersey during the 2024 Ireland Superleague media day in Dublin.
Credit: Provided by Nathan Davis
Luckily, the relationships Davis had maintained with the McKinnon Cougars came in clutch. When the coach found out he was back home and healthy, he offered Davis a third contract to go down and play with them for the 2025-26 season.
“It was such a blessing. That’s where I’d been the happiest and where I loved playing the most. Getting to go back to that club and that city with the chance to make another championship game was incredible.”
There was another reason this opportunity was so meaningful for Davis. The new season would be his last.
“To commit to the level of training I’d need to do in the offseason and to everything that goes into a full season, I just didn't have enough in the tank to keep chasing it. My body was starting to tell me it was time.”
His heart was, too. He’d recently gotten engaged.
“I just knew I couldn't go through being separated from loved ones for seven or eight months at a time again.”
Davis planned to give everything he had to his final season, to stay focused, and get the very most out of it he could.
Several players from 2023 were still on the team, along with the same coach and some staff. Davis says from the start, he was confident it would be a winning season.
“From the very beginning, I could visualize lifting the trophy with my teammates, the guys I call my brothers now. I just knew it would happen.”
And it did.
This time, Davis was on the court when the Cougars beat the Hume City Broncos, 87-81 in a nailbiter to clinch the league championship and indeed hoist that trophy over their heads.
“I went out the best way possible. I knew I was going to miss playing for a lot of different reasons, but I had that storybook ending that gave me a tremendous amount of peace as I boarded the plane and flew back home for the final time.”
Davis had already been preparing for his new chapter by applying for a broad range of jobs while he was in Australia. It wasn’t long before he was getting interviews, including one for a position at Penn State Altoona.
When he was offered the job as student services assistant for the college’s Student Affairs office and the Belonging Center, he was eager to accept.
Nathan Davis is the student services assistant for Penn State Altoona’s Student Affairs office and the Belonging Center.
Credit: Marissa Carney
While much of the job is administrative work, what interested him in the position in the first place was the chance to interact with students.
“It wasn’t that long ago that I was their age. I understand what college kids go through on an academic, social, and athletic level. I knew I could resonate with them and be a safe resource for them.”
Davis’s background in teaching and experiences with different people and cultures are valuable to his position at the college, particularly with his work in the Belonging Center, with Student Leadership and Involvement, and the Ivyside Eats food pantry.
“I've always prided myself on being a good team player. It’s about finding the value that I can provide to a given space, to help make it better through connection and building bridges. I’m working to make this a place people can enjoy from both a college standpoint and a student standpoint.”
Davis sometimes marvels at the career path he’s traveled so far.
Six or seven years ago, his goal was to play professional basketball, excel, and climb the ranks. He planned to make it the NBA and become a millionaire.
While not all of that happened, Davis says he wouldn’t trade his journey for anything.
“These memories, these experiences, these lessons, the character I've built from everything that's happened to me is just as valuable as any dollar sign or any type of renown or recognition.”
