Behind the Scenes - Janalee Davis

Behind the Scenes is a feature that introduces, one person at a time, all those who work in the athletic department but maybe aren’t as well-known as coaches or players. Take a look back each week to meet the wonderful workers in the department – behind the scenes.

Name: Janalee Davis

Title: Administrative Assistant – Athletic Development

Started at BYU: June 2007

What do you do? I assist the athletic development team in Major Gift Fundraising. This includes the Athletic Leadership Council, Coaches Circle, Athletic Scholarship Donors, Legacy Trip, The Blue Zone and the Thank-a-thon.

Who are three people you work with the most? Tom Mullen, Jeremiah Christenot and Robbie Bosco

Favorite sport: My favorite sports to play are softball and sand volleyball.

Why? Not quite sure, maybe I just like playing in the dirt.

Favorite book: Besides the Book of Mormon, The Alliance by Gerald Lund

Favorite candy bar: Midnight Milky Way

Favorite music genre: Country

Favorite quote: “...as you labor to know him, and to know that he knows you; as you invest your time—and inconvenience—in quiet, unassuming service, you will indeed find that “his angels [have] charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up.” (Matt. 4:6.) It may not come quickly. It probably won’t come quickly, but there is purpose in the time it takes. Cherish your spiritual burdens because God will converse with you through them and will use you to do his work if you carry them well.... sometimes the harder you try, the harder it gets, take heart. So it has been with the best people who ever lived.

-Jeffrey R. Holland, “The Inconvenient Messiah,” Ensign, Feb 1984, 68

Do you have any funny memories/stories about our student athletes? One of our football players came to speak to a group of donors; before the event began he asked if I had a pen he could use. Looking around I saw that all the ones from the office were being used so I reached into my purse and pulled out the first pen I touched which happened to be a Disney princess pen a friend of mine had brought me the week before from Disneyland. He looked at the pen, then at me and shook his head. He ended up waiting until one of the other pens was available.

Tell us about your family. I am the fifth of eight children. There are four girls and four boys. I have 9.5 nieces and nephews.

Favorite treat: Popcorn

What do you usually order at Legends? Western Burger

Why do you love your job? Besides the fact that I love sports and therefore love working in the athletic department, I’m involved in so many different projects that I never get bored.

Where would you like to travel to: Anywhere really, but I’ve always wanted to go to Scotland, Africa and New Zealand.

Favorite BYU sporting moment: I was sitting with five other friends in the endzone 18 rows up from where Beck threw to Harline, winning the game. We were in the middle of the crimson club in a sea of red, and the victory was oh so sweet!

Favorite childhood memory: Every Sunday night my family would go to my grandma’s house and have either dinner or treats, and then my cousins would go outside and play Kick the Can, Sardines, Sock War, and so many other games. It was always a blast!

Do you play any musical instruments? The piano very limitedly and the Kazoo!!!

What is one of your favorite things to do? Play Bocce Ball

What’s one thing you would like to do sometime in your life? Serve a Humanitarian Mission.

What is a little-known fact about you? I’m allergic to denim – and no I’m not kidding