Advertisement
Published Nov 5, 2022
Essie Davis, David Hawkins highlight Temple's Hall of Fame class
Javon Edmonds
OwlScoop.com Staff Reporter

Eight more Owls were inducted into the Temple Athletics Hall of Fame on Friday night. Among those eight were men’s basketball’s Essie Davis and David Hawkins, football’s Willie Marshall, and baseball’s Ed Molush.

Davis is the longest-tenured employee in the history of Temple basketball, having been on staff from 1972-2012. Davis worked under coaches Harry Litwack, Don Casey, John Chaney and Fran Dunphy. In that time, she witnessed more than 800 wins and 35 postseason appearances.

There is a picture of Davis with all four of those coaches in the background, one that Dunphy said is still his favorite picture of all time.

Having worked with Davis for six years, Dunphy said Davis was the model of consistency.

“However long we worked together… she was the same person every day,” Dunphy said Friday night. “And here I am trying to get my guys to be the same people every day…’Just be like Essie, it’ll make life easier on me.’”

Hawkins, the third-leading scorer in Temple history and one of only four Owls to amass more than 2,000 points in their career, was a three time All-Atlantic 10 and All-Big 5 player in his career. Since then, Hawkins has played overseas and won a championship with Trilogy in Ice Cube’s BIG 3 league in its inaugural 2017 season.

“I always called him the Ultimate Warrior,” said former Temple broadcaster Harry Donahue. “David Hawkins never wanted to lose, and he made sure everyone else had that same mentality.”

Hawkins was at his former teammate Lynn Greer Jr.’s Temple Athletics Hall of Fame induction in 2016 with Chaney.

“I was sitting with Coach and he stayed on joke time,” Hawkins said. “So I’m like, ‘Coach, I can’t wait until I get inducted and you come see me.’ He said, ‘I don’t think I’ll be there… I’m not saying I won’t be alive, I’m saying I don’t think you’re getting inducted.’”

Though the late Chaney – who passed away in 2021 – wasn’t there, his son John Jr. and wife Jeanne were in attendance for Friday night’s festivities. Hawkins said how grateful he was to be attendance himself, as he was shot after a basketball game in 2020.

Marshall, who was Temple’s all-time leading receiver until Ventell Bryant broke his record of 2,272 yards in 2018, played under future Super Bowl-winning head coach Bruce Arians from 1983-1986, although being recruited by Wayne Hardin.

Marshall was part of the Temple team that ended the 39-year losing streak to Pitt, a team that would beat Temple by an average of 29 points over that span. Marshall scored the game-winning touchdown to end the streak on a roster that included Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles and former Heisman Trophy runner-up Paul Palmer.

Molush, a 1972 All-Mid Atlantic Conference selection, led the Owls to the College World Series that season. He pitched 21 ⅓ innings with a 0.85 ERA in the tournament. Molush spent four years as a Minor League Baseball player in the Philadelphia Phillies’ organization after graduating from Temple.

Field hockey players Deb Brown-Townsend, Lori Warneka-O’Donnell and Jill Marple – who also played lacrosse – rounded out the 2022 class with the now-defunct softball’s Adrienne Repsher-Kashner.

Temple
2025Commitment List
Updated:
temple
FOOTBALL
Scores / Schedule
footballfootball
3 - 9
Overall Record
2 - 6
Conference Record
Finished
Temple
17
Temple
North Texas
24
Arrow
North Texas
UTSA
51
Arrow
UTSA
Temple
27
Temple
Temple
18
Arrow
Temple
Florida Atlantic
15
Florida Atlantic
recruiting
2025Team Rankings
recruiting Team Rankings