Bambi Davis was just a fifteen-year-old junior at Chattanooga City High School when the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame honored her as the Amateur Athlete of the Year in 1971. In just six years of competitive swimming, Davis had gained national recognition and had accumulated medals, trophies, plaques, and ribbons totaling 829! Three times between 1967 and 1970 while competing against males and females, she won the Outstanding Swimmer Award in the Tennessee State AAU Swimming and Diving Championships. In 1968 Bambi was named Chattanooga’s Athlete of the Year, and that city also recognized her as Swimmer of the Year in 1968-1969. By 1971 she held thirty-six Southeastern AAU Association Age-Group and Senior Women’s Swimming Records. Among Davis’s victories are Chattanooga’s Gold Medal Invitational, the Music City Invitational, the Dixie Classic, and the Memphis Valentine Invitational. She also won the Phillips 66 Invitational Mile Swim for Senior Women at Atlanta. Truly an aquatic phenom, Bambi Davis certainly made her mark on the history of Tennessee swimming.
