We’re inside a barber shop on the northwest side. Indiana is the topic. And Purdue. Brace yourself for some taunting, Purdue fans. It’s a barber shop – and Slick CutZ owner Ricky Davis went to IU.
“Boiler down,” Davis barks at a Purdue grad nearby.
“Boiler up,” the Purdue grad answers.
“Banner up,” Davis says, and now everyone is giggling inside Slick CutZ on 86th Street, giggling and looking at the photos on the walls. The photos are of athletes from Purdue and Indiana, and they’re signed. Lots of these athletes were here on 86th Street to get groomed, and if they couldn’t come to 86th Street, that’s fine – 86th Street can come to them.
Every Wednesday, Ricky “Slick” Davis goes to Bloomington to cut the Hoosiers’ hair. IU star Yogi Ferrell is a client. Sits down in the chair and shows Davis a 2-year-old iPhone selfie and says, “Like this.” Troy Williams and James Blackmon Jr. are clients. Robert Johnson. More.
Every Thursday, Slick goes to West Lafayette to cut the Boilermakers’ hair. Kendall Stephens and Rapheal Davis. Jon Octeus, back in the day. Basil Smotherman. More.
Ricky Davis, 26, is a lifelong IU fan. He grew up hating Purdue, but he has a few more weeks to endure as, gulp, a fan of the Boilermakers. See, Purdue captain Rapheal Davis is Slick’s brother.
Makes for some interesting conversations in that chair. The Big Ten tournament is this weekin Indianapolis, and Purdue and Indiana are bearing down on a potential semifinal meeting on Saturday at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
Ricky “Slick” Davis? The IU fanwith the brother at Purdue?He can’t lose. Or maybe he can’t win.
“Either way,” he says, “I’m going to hear about it.”
* * *
The first time he heard about it, Ricky Davis was holding a walkie-talkie. Radios, they’re called these days. Rovers. Whatever they are, Ricky was carrying one through the hallways of Bankers Life Fieldhouse when his boss barked through the static: “Ricky! What are you doing in a Purdue uniform?”
This was a fewyears ago, the 2012 Crossroads Classic. Indiana played Butler that day, losing at the buzzer. Purdue lost to Notre Dame. In 2012 Rapheal Davis was a freshman at Purdue, and before tipoff he was skipping rope outside the Purdue locker room. IU assistant athletic director Earlston Bean walked past and did a double-take.
Is that … Ricky? In a Purdue jersey?
They look alike, Ricky and Rapheal. Just three years apart, both former star athletes from Fort Wayne. Brothers. Ricky Davis was an intern in 2012 in the IU athletic department, working for Bean in event management. His job that day at the Crossroads Classic was getting the bench area ready for the Hoosiers – towels, water cups, the usual. He’d never told Bean or anyone else at IU that Purdue freshman Rapheal Davis was his brother.
Ricky Davis was ashamed. Well, sort of. He never wanted his brother to play for Purdue.
“I hated Purdue,” Ricky is telling me inside Slick CutZ as he sweeps hair clippings off the floor.
You try to talk him out of attending Purdue?
“By the time I found out he committed (to Matt Painter),” Ricky says, “it was too late. He was committed!”
Big Ten tournament: What's at stake for IU, Purdue?
We’re standing in Slick CutZ, and we’re not alone. The Purdue grad speaks up.
“Boiler up!” says Ray Davis, no relation to Ricky, and a traitor to boot. Well, that’s Ricky’s word for Ray, one of his employees at Slick CutZ. Ricky met Ray Davis when they were cutting hair for cash as students at IU – before Ray transferred to Purdue.
“Traitor,” Ricky says, shaking his head.
Ray Davis is laughing. So is the third employee at Slick CutZ, Jailyn Oakley, who referees the IU guy and the Purdue guy when they’re not busy cutting hair. And most days, they’re pretty busy. Slick CutZ celebrated its one-year anniversary last month, and business is good. Slick has been flown around the country by rich clients, and he cuts the hair of R&B artist Ray J and rapper Lil George when they’re in town.
But athletes from IU and Purdue dominate the interior of Slick CutZ. Signed pictures fill two walls. A third is an autograph wall, and it’s a sea of basketball and football names from the state’s two Big Ten schools. James Blackmon. Tevin Coleman. Danny Ezechukwu.
Ricky Davis sees me looking at the names and lifts the broom. Using the handle, he points to a word written in flourishing penmanship: Yogi Ferrell. He lifts the handle higher and taps another name: Rapheal Davis.
Ricky is smiling. Indiana and Purdue, both in Indianapolis competing for the Big Ten title? He won’t have to go far this week to make a few extra bucks.
* * *
Ricky Davis turned down college football to cut hair. That’s a true story. He was a linebacker at FortWayne South Side, getting looks for the next level. Smaller schools, nothing in Division I. Ricky Davis wanted to play football, but he wanted to cut hair more.
So he went to IU. Got a job at Razors Image Barbershop in Bloomington. Cut hair throughout college. He’d already graduated from barber school, pretty much the same day he graduated from high school, after starting barber school at age 16. Cutting hair was his future starting that day in middle school when a barber butchered the line in his hair, leaving Ricky Davis mortified and grabbing some clippers and looking into the mirror and fixing the line himself.
“Turns out, I loved it,” he says. “I saw how a good haircut can change your whole day. I wanted to do that.”
But first, college. Richard and Monick Davis insisted. They’re into education, the parents of Ricky and Rapheal. Richard played football and basketball at John Marshall,graduated in 1984, then played football at Indiana State. Monick Davis is a nurse with a master’s degree, and she’s back in school for her Ph.D. They had a rule for Ricky, same as for Rapheal: Keep your grades above a "B" average, or you can’t play.
Ricky, he had a rule too: “I wasn’t going to play on the scout team,” he says. He was a one-way player for South Side High School, defense only, and Tuesdays and Thursdays were offense days. Guys like Ricky, guys who didn’t play offense, had to fill out the scout team.
Big Ten tournament capsules: Handicapping the field
Ricky took those days off and went to barber school. He saved his money at IU, cutting hair at Razors Image, and used that as a down payment to open Slick CutZ in the corner of a strip mall, between 86th Street Pub and Ariel’s Aromatherapy.
This week he’ll cut Yogi’s hair before the Big Ten tournament. He’ll cut the hair of James Blackmon and Troy Williams, and tease them about Purdue. Ray Davis will cut Robert Johnson’s hair, and he’ll tease the IU guard about Purdue.
Ricky cuts Rapheal’s hair. Doesn’t charge his baby brother anything, and never has. Dad insisted on that. Ricky, the IU grad who bleeds Indiana red but roots for his brother at all times – even when his brother is playing against, gulp, Indiana – thinks it’s time for his brother to pay up.
“Free ticket to the Big Ten tournament,” Ricky Davis says. “You’d think I could get that. But, nope.”
What do you expect, you IU grad? Boiler up, and all that.
Find IndyStar columnist Gregg Doyel on Twitter at@GreggDoyelStar or atwww.facebook.com/gregg.doyel.
