2022 Inducted into the New England LMSC Hall of Fame (Contributor)

2018 NE LMSC Lifetime Appreciation Award Recipient - The Appreciation Award recognizes individuals who have made significant contributions toward the conduct, leadership, and support of the NELMSC or its registered clubs.

Priscilla Davis and her team of 13 active officials does a masterful job of tirelessly running our Masters swim meets throughout the year. Each championship meet (WPI and Harvard), they spend 20-25 hours on their feet officiating. They also officiate at all our mini meets throughout the year. Not only that, they are professional, good humored and obviously love what they do. New England is blessed to have such an experienced and friendly group of officials running our meets.

Over 40 years of service, laughter, encouragement, professionalism, kindness, commitment and putting up with Bob Fredette.  Priscilla Davis is naturally the mother (or perhaps grandmother!) of swimming officials in New England. She's been doing it forever and ever. I know that two of the events that she takes a lot of pride in working are the Ivy League Championships and the Special Olympics (which are also usually at Harvard). Several years ago, she needed a hip replacement. Based on input from doctors, she scheduled the hip replacement to be right after the Ivy Champs in late February or early March, so that she could be back on her feet for the Special Olympics.

As far as I know, she's only ended up in the pool as an official once. It was 36 years ago in March 1980. Harvard was hosting the Men's NCAA Division I Championships at Blodgett Pool, which was just 2 years old. They put in a floating bridge/dock between the 8-lane course and the diving well so that officials could walk on that "side" of the pool for officiating. Let's just say it wasn't completely sturdy, and at one point during the meet, Priscilla ended up in the water.

Priscilla was a long-time and beloved fixture in the swimming community in New England. She was a dedicated official for thousands of swimming competitions across all ages and abilities. She was on the pool deck for local youth, summer league, high school, collegiate, YMCA, Masters, Paralympic, Bay State Games, and USA Swimming competition. A family member commented that when they examined her calendar planner, there were remarkably few days that did not have at least one swim meet scheduled.

She was a member of the New England Swimming Board of Directors for decades, serving as the Adapted Swimming and Safety Chair for many years. She served on numerous USA Swimming national committees, including the National Adapted Swimming Committee and the National Swimming Safety Committee. She also served for many years on the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) Board of Directors.

She was the recipient of countless awards and recognitions and was a two-time recipient of the Adolf Kiefer Safety Commendation Award, presented at the United States Aquatic Sports National Convention, in 1991 and 2017. She is a member of the MIAA Hall of Fame. In 2014, the Eastern Massachusetts Interscholastic Swim Coaches Academy (EMISCA) created the Priscilla Davis Silver Service Award, honoring her 25+ years of service to Massachusetts High School swimming and diving.

Priscilla has been on deck as the referee for nearly all of the Ivy League Championships over the past 25 years. She refereed Harvard’s final home meet in January of 2020 and was scheduled to be the Meet Referee for the 2020 Ivy Championships. She created the tradition of officials wearing blazers for finals at this meet, and the officials continued that tradition in her honor.