McKinley 'Deacon' Davis       

McKinley 'Deacon' Davis attended Senior High School and lived in Freeport, Illinois. He played on the 1951 State Championship basketball team, and was named to the All-State basketball team.

Deacon went to the Iowa where he was named to the 2nd Team All-American and 1st Team All-Big Ten Conference.

From 1955 to 1957, Deacon was a member of the Harlem Globetrotters. In those years, he traveled around the country with the team, studying the condition of American high schools in his downtime. It was in these years, while continuing his education that his vision developed for what would one day become the CHANCE program. In January 2004, NIU President John Peters re-dedicated the CHANCE program as "The McKinley 'Deacon' Davis CHANCE Program."

Born 8/3/1932 and died on 3/20/2003 at the age of 70.