Celina’s Hazen Davis, One Of The Best To Play Celina High Baseball

(5-30-22) Not many today know that 1953 Celina grad Hazen Davis was one of the top pitchers in Ohio HS baseball during his four year career.

Davis passed away on January 12th, 2020 at the age of 84.

From his obituary –

Hazen was a gifted athlete, he was a starter and captain of both his high school baseball and basketball teams. His success as a high school pitcher helped him get drafted by the Cleveland Indians, where he played in their farm system for two years in Green Bay, Wisconsin and Florida. He went on to play baseball for Celina American Legion, Celina Legion Moose, Celina Merchants and Celina Independents. After his pitching career was over he went on to be an assistant coach for the Celina ACME baseball team.

1953 Celina Baseball Team

In the early days of the Western Buckeye League the Bulldogs won league titles in 1951 and 1953 and was 2nd in 1950. Davis was a big part of all those teams.

From the 1953 ANILEC –

While one of his teammates, Duane Baker, at Celina is in the Celina High Athletic Hall of Fame, Davis has yet to be selected.

Over the years after his career ended Davis and his good friend Whitey Klosterman could be found in the stands rooting for the Grand Lake Mariners and talking baseball.

From a 2013 Celina Daily Standard story Davis talked about throwing the fastball-

“It is all in the wrist. A good fastball has a lot of snap in the wrist like a whip.”

Hazen Davis Pro Career Records

RELATED:

• Old friends still get together to talk, play baseball

Basketball Career

Davis was a two-sport star at Celina, including basketball. He was a part of a long-time story about a 1-point FG vs. St. Marys. Some still talk about it today.