Otis Crandall Davis (July 12, 1932 – September 14, 2024) was an American athlete, winner of two gold medals for record-breaking performances in the 400 m and 4 × 400 m relay at the 1960 Summer Olympics.

"[6] In 1959, Davis finished seventh in the 440-yard dash in the NCAA Division I Men's Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

In addition, Davis, along with Bill Bowerman, Ashton Eaton, Steve Prefontaine and Raevyn Rogers, are depicted on a nine-foot tower adjacent to Hayward Field.

[3] He ran his fastest time to date one week before participating in the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome as one of the oldest members of the track team, where he was nicknamed "Pops" by his teammates.

"[6] On September 6, 1960,[4] Davis ran against the heavily favored German athlete Carl Kaufmann, who was born in Brooklyn[3] and held the world record in the 400-meter dash.

[4][6] The photo of the finish, with (in full horizontal dive position) Kaufmann's nose ahead of Davis, but his torso behind, has been studied and discussed by track and field officials for years.

Davis was hired by the Union City Board of Education, and began working at Emerson High School as a truancy officer, teacher, coach and mentor.

When he was inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame in 2003, he asked Emerson Principal Robert Fazio to accompany him to the ceremony in Los Angeles, and when the rest of the school's staff learned he was an Olympic medalist, they honored him with a banner posted in a hallway in the school honoring his achievements.

[6] Davis ran athletic skills programs during the spring and summer in Union City, in order to reach students who did not normally participate in sporting events, and to complement the schools' physical education curricula.

Among programs he directed were the Mayor's Cup, first held on June 6, 2011, in which students from the city's several elementary schools compete in events that include sprinting, spring relays and circle relays, and the Sports Challenge, which provides special needs children with the opportunity to be a part of sports activities.

[10] In 2023, Davis published a memoir, Destiny's Daredevil: The Autobiography of an Olympic Champion Helping Others Cross the Finish Line.