CALEDONA TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Chris Pearl has played for Siena Heights, Grand Valley State, and now Davenport. At each stop he has been an asset, and this season he is helping the Panthers, who have won five straight games.
"Davenport is a winning culture," Pearl said. "Ever since I was at Siena, they have been winning 25-plus games and nothing plans to stop now. You can just see it when you walk through the doors, the hard work, the grittiness, the toughness, just the winning culture here."
While Davenport has had success with transfers, it is rare to see one come not only from another GLIAC school, but just up the road in Allendale.
"I can't say enough good things about Chris," 11th-year Davenport head coach Burt Paddock said. "He is a great kid, great student, been a good teammate, and our guys really enjoy him. He's a funny guy. He doesn't care if he starts or comes off the bench, which you never know when you get transfers if they are going to think they need to play 30 minutes or shoot all the time. And we have been so fortunate with our culture that we've built that kids have come in and just bought into what we are trying to do."
Pearl already has an undergraduate degree, he came to Davenport beacuse it offers the MBA program he wants. On the team he has connected well with the rest of the guys.
"He fit right in," senior point guard Janeau Joubert said. "Being a transfer from one of our foes in Grand Valley, he stepped right in, bought right in to what we do, especially on defense. He's a juggernaut on defense, one of our main key persons on defense, and he is just a great teammate overall."
"We hang out a lot whether it is the movies. We've gone ice skating, we've gone bowling, kind of do a lot," Pearl added. "Plus we do some things in the off season with training and conditioning, so we get that togetherness and comfortable with everybody."
