[12] In 1896, Davis organized Lafayette's Law Club;[13] he appeared in a leading role in a stage production of The Rivals at the Easton, Pennsylvania Opera House;[14] he read Longfellow poetry at the Freshman Initiation gala;[15] and he led Lafayette to its first national football championship, an honor he would, himself, bestow upon his team some 37 years after the fact.

But after his team lost three times to Lafayette in home games played on three different fields over the course of three days,[18][20] Yost became a remarkable personification of "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em."

After concluding his own six-year career as a football coach, Davis became an attorney[23] in Easton, Pennsylvania, where Lafayette is located.

In the October 1900 meeting of the Lafayette Democratic Club, Davis was the "orator of the evening", after the group unanimously endorsed the national ticket of William Jennings Bryan.

He became such a part of Easton and the college that he was proclaimed a "loyal son of Lafayette" after giving a speech in 1901 urging on the football team before its game with Princeton, his own alma mater.

[26] The "ex-coach and loyal supporter of athletics of Lafayette"[27] served as an umpire in football games[28] and as starter at the college's track meets.

[29] Davis wrote an early history of American football in 1911, tracing the sport's origins to ancient times:[30] ...abundant evidence may be marshalled to prove that this is the oldest outdoor game in existence.

Among the innovations with which he is credited are the division of the game into quarters, numbering of players, abolition of inter-locked interference and the creation of end zones.

[32] Even after leaving the Rules Committee, Davis promoted his ideas for improving the sport, which included making it illegal to advance a recovered fumble: This feature of football is uncouth, unfair and a relic of a long bygone era...

Players when tackled invariably endeavored to pass the ball back to another member of their side for a further advance, a method of play so highly developed that it was not infrequent to see a ball passed as many as five times during a single play.In addition to his work on the Guide, Davis authored articles on football for the Encyclopædia Britannica and compiled a glossary of football terms.

[32] Dan Jenkins reported in the September 11, 1967, edition of Sports Illustrated, "Davis went all the way back to the first inflated pig bladder to pick the national champions for every season.

Princeton announced that it was inviting the sporting world to honor its famous alum on "Parke Davis Day", which was set for the following October 13.

He raised the Maroon from a position of obscurity to a level with the football giants... Lafayette owes much to Parke Davis and should contribute something to this event which is being held in his honor.

Rather than attending the planned celebration in New Jersey, "(c)ollege associates, former football stars and members of the bench and bar were among the friends", who arrived in Easton as mourners for June 8 funeral services held at Davis' home.

[4] He is the only major selector indicated as using historic research for his selections rather than a poll or mathematical system[4] (although Bill Schroeder of the Helms Athletic Foundation did as well).

The title of the chapter was changed to Outstanding Nationwide and Sectional Teams, and the byline to "Originally Compiled by the late Parke H.