Who Is Hubert Davis’ Wife? All About Leslie Davis
The North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team coach and his wife first met in high school and attended UNC together
When he’s not busy coaching during March Madness, Hubert Davis has a great support system at home.
The head coach of the North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team, who took over for longtime coach Roy Williams in 2021, has been married to his wife Leslie Davis for more than two decades.
The couple first met while attending high school in Virginia, where they both grew up, before crossing paths again at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Though their romance was a slow burn during those years, they started dating after Leslie graduated, and eventually tied the knot.
Since then, they have welcomed three children together, Elijah, Bobbie Grace and Micah, with their oldest son following in Dad's basketball-playing footsteps.
Here’s everything to know about Davis’ wife and the couple's relationship.
She’s an Army child
Davis was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, but grew up in Burke, Virginia. Like Davis, his wife also grew up in the area. During an interview with Chapel Hill Magazine, the UNC coach revealed that his wife was an “an Army child.” As her dad worked at the Pentagon outside of Washington, D.C., they resided in the northern Virginia area.
They first met in high school
Davis and Leslie first met when they were 16 and 15, respectively, while attending Lake Braddock Secondary School in Virginia. Fun fact: the high school is also the alma mater of another famous UNC alumnus, soccer star Mia Hamm.
According to Davis, he and Leslie connected and developed a close bond during their high school years. “We just instantly became great friends and were great friends all throughout high school,” he told Chapel Hill Magazine of Leslie, who was one year behind him.
They both went to UNC
Though Leslie initially wanted to attend Davidson College in North Carolina, Davis told Chapel Hill Magazine he was shocked when she ended up going to UNC like him.
“For whatever reason, she ended up [attending] North Carolina,” he explained. “I didn’t even know she was even considering it. She just showed up on campus, and I was like, ‘What are you doing here?’ She said, ‘I got into North Carolina.’ I said, ‘What in the world? You didn’t tell me?’ ”
Their friendship continued throughout their time at Carolina, with him noting that they were “best friends” in college and “did everything together.”
They got married in 1999
It wasn’t until after Leslie graduated from UNC that their friendship became something more. “After she graduated, we just looked at each other and said let’s date and get married,” Davis recalled to Chapel Hill Magazine.
They eventually tied the knot in 1999 and have been married for over two decades. “We’ve known each other a long time and been married almost 22 years,” Davis recalled to Chapel Hill Magazine in 2021. “But it feels like even more because I’ve had my best friend with me since I was 16 years old.”
In August 2019, Davis celebrated their milestone 20th anniversary on Instagram as he and Leslie returned to the spot where they celebrated their honeymoon. “20 years ago I married my best friend...20 years later she’s still my best friend!!!” he captioned the post. “thank you Jackson Hole Wyoming for being the perfect spot to spend our honeymoon and the perfect spot to celebrate 20 yrs of marriage!!!..w/our kids:)))!!!”
They have three children
Together, Davis and Leslie have three children, Elijah Webb, Bobbie Grace and Micah. His oldest two children are named after his late mother Bobbie Webb Davis, who died of oral cancer when he was 16.
“I got it all over the place,” Hubert told The Athletic of his mother’s memory in his family.
Their kids have followed in Hubert Davis’ footsteps
Like Davis, his children have a love of sports. Speaking with Chapel Hill Magazine, Davis noted that Bobbie Grace plays lacrosse, Micah loves soccer and Elijah is into basketball like his dad and currently plays for the University of Lynchburg.
Davis noted that he was always skeptical about his kids getting into sports as he didn’t want them to feel like they were living in his shadow. “But Elijah wanted to play basketball. He’s always loved it,” he explained. “And I always felt horrible for him. Because everywhere he goes, he’s always compared, critiqued, judged. I’ve always wanted people to celebrate him, absent of my career.”
“My life is my life. Elijah, Gracie and Micah – it’s their life,” he continued. “I didn’t want any of my kids to have that added pressure of comparison and instant evaluation in terms of comparing it to me.”
They wanted to raise their kids in Chapel Hill
Following the death of his mother at a young age, Davis recalled to Chapel Hill Magazine that he found solace playing basketball at UNC. “I needed this place coming from high school,” he said of Chapel Hill. “My mom passed away of cancer two days before my junior year of high school. I was a mama’s boy, and she was the love of my life. To go through that was beyond devastating.”
“I needed a place that was going to open its arms up to me and encourage and support me,” he continued. “That’s what I found here, not just from the coaches, not just from the secretaries or from the guys on the team, but this university and this community. They just wrapped their arms around me and took care of me the four years that I was here.”
He noted that when he and his wife began deciding where they wanted to raise their children, there was no question about going to Chapel Hill. “It was a place where not only I knew that they would be cared for, but [where] they would grow up in an environment where people genuinely cared for them and genuinely were on their side,” he explained. “I wanted my kids around that.”
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