Davey Lee Whitney Sr. was born in Midway, Kentucky, and attended Paul Laurence Dunbar High School in Lexington while living with friends.

[2] After college, Whitney started out playing Negro American League baseball for the Kansas City Monarchs as shortstop and third baseman, from 1952 to 1954.

[4][5] In ten seasons, Whitney led Burt to over 200 victories and the 1961 National Negro High School Basketball Championship.

[5] He had his first collegiate job as head coach of Texas Southern University in 1964, but had only one winning season in five years.

In 1980, Alcorn State became the first HBCU to win a game in the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship, after beating South Alabama in the first round.

[8] In 1989, Alcorn State fired Whitney after three straight losing seasons in which they only won 18 games total.

Conference tournament champion Whitney died at his home in Biloxi, Mississippi, on May 10, 2015, at the age of 85.