‘Do it for Davo’: Manual senior returns to the court while battling osteosarcoma

By Addie Meiners

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    LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (WLKY) — Manual senior Davis Randle was able to finally join his Crimson teammates on the court Wednesday night after battling cancer.

Randle was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma in December 2023, after complaining of knee pain.

“They said that it was jumper’s knee, it was Osgood-Schlatter’s, it was growing pains, all the things,” said Danielle Randle, Davis’ mom. “We went ahead and got another opinion, and they wanted to do some scans. Then we had to do a biopsy, and the biopsy came back and it was cancer.”

The news came as a surprise to Davis.

“It was shocking,” said Davis. “It was kind of unbelievable because I was just dunking and now I’m in the hospital like the next month.”

Randle spent the next six months in and out of the hospital receiving chemo. He and his family said those days were the hardest.

“It took me out. I’d be tired, sleepy, nauseous,” said Davis. “It was hard watching basketball on TV because I would want to play, but I couldn’t.”

Seeing her son like that was a hard sight for Davis’ mom.

“As a parent, the one thing that you want is for your babies to be healthy. And when you can’t do anything about it, it’s excruciating,” said Danielle.

Danielle added that the support of Davis’ friends and teammates kept him going when he needed it most.

“At any time, some of them would show up in the house and just play video games or show up at the hospital just to keep him company. They kept his spirits uplifted,” said Danielle.

In the summer of 2024, Davis won the battle with cancer, but unfortunately, he didn’t win the war. The cancer came back in December 2024.

“Faith over fear, faith over fear. We just know that his story is bigger than us. So we believe it, and he believes it too,” said Danielle.

While Davis continues his battle, like a good teammate, he uses his struggle and strength to motivate his team.

“If I can get through this, you can get through whatever,” said Davis.

Two of Davis’ teammates and best friends, Malachi and Justice, said having him back on the sideline has been a great moral boost for the team.

“He’s goofy all the time, being his normal self. Laughing, making everybody laugh,” said Malachi.

“He’s more the hype man,” said Justice. “It was just a good feeling seeing him again.”

Head coach Miquel Coleman said the team’s motto this season has been “Do it for Davo.”

“So if you look on our warm-up shirts when we’re away, there’s the number 34, which was his number. And we have ‘Do it for Davo’ on t-shirts,” said Coleman. “When Davis comes around, it brightens everybody up, gives us strength to understand that we know we gotta keep fighting. Not only keep fighting but just keep fighting for him.”

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