Pete Sousa apologizes for comments about Kentucky's Ray Davis on SEC Network broadcast

Perhaps the most notable thing to emerge Saturday from Kentucky’s 28-17 victory against Eastern Kentucky wasn’t anything that happened on the field, but in the broadcasting booth.

SEC Network play-by-play announcer Pete Sousa drew widespread criticism for an insensitive comment he made about Kentucky running back Ray Davis, whose 88 total yards and one touchdown helped the Wildcats pull out a closer-than-expected win against the FCS opponent.

On Sunday, Sousa took to Twitter to issue an apology.

“It was my intention to shine a light on Ray’s story and to be an advocate for adopting foster kids,” he wrote. “At the end of it all, I have to look at the moment and admit I missed the mark. I could’ve told that story without that line and for that I’m disappointed in myself and I apologize.”

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What did Pete Sousa say?

After Davis caught a 24-yard touchdown pass from Devin Leary to put Kentucky up by 11 with 8:08 remaining in the game, Sousa used the opportunity to praise the Wildcats’ 5-10 senior transfer from Vanderbilt. He just did so in an unusual way.

“Nine months ago, when he jumped in the portal, everybody wanted him,” Sousa said. “Eleven years ago, as a foster kid, really nobody wanted him. And now here he is. He has found some love, found football and he has had an amazing journey.”

It’s common for broadcasters to highlight human-interest stories involving notable players like Davis who have overcome significant hardship to excel, but it was an odd and awkward attempt at framing Davis’ life and career.

With a mother and father who were in and out of prison during his childhood in San Francisco, Davis lived with family members and acquaintances before he entered California’s foster care system when he was eight years old. In 2016, Lora Banks and Greg Ley became his temporary guardians — and are still listed as his guardians in his bio on Kentucky’s website. Shortly after that, Davis was accepted at Trinity-Pawling School, a boarding school in Pawling, New York.

After spending a post-graduate season at Blair Academy in Blairstown, New Jersey, Davis played his first two college seasons at Temple before transferring to Vanderbilt, where he rushed for 1,042 yards and five touchdowns last season, becoming the fifth Commodores player ever to surpass the 1,000-yard mark on the ground.

“I don’t really do it for me; I do it for all the other kids who are in the system,” Davis told VUCommodores.com in 2021. “They don’t have a voice. I didn’t have a voice when I was a kid. I didn’t have anyone that believed in me. Didn’t have anyone tell me, ‘You’re going to go to college and play football.’

“For me to be able to have a voice and look at a kid who is going through the same thing I went through, who is in the foster care system, who may or may not be getting adopted or taken up, to look at them and tell them, ‘There’s a chance, you can make it, you’re going to go through a lot of obstacles. Nothing was easy for me. I had to go through so many obstacles. But at the end of the day if you know there’s going to be a light at the end of the tunnel, then keep pushing. Keep fighting, no matter what.’”

Strangely enough, given the situation which he has been a part of the past several days, Davis hopes to get into sports broadcasting. In his Kentucky bio, he said his dream job, other than playing in the NFL, is to work at ESPN.

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Pete Sousa's background with foster children

In addition to his apology, Sousa offered additional context for his choice of words last weekend.

Sousa said that with the help of the television station he works for — KWTX in Waco, Texas — and Texas Child Protective Services, he and others have been able to “feature dozens of stories on children looking for families” on a segment that began running in 2017, with “many of them eventually finding homes.”

Sousa described that work as “a passion of mine.”

“It’s worth noting that for years now I’ve used whatever platform I have to help get foster children adopted,” Sousa wrote.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Pete Sousa apologizes for comment about Kentucky's Ray Davis