Very few individuals can claim honors like those Dave Downey earned: the basketball court at Canton High School was recently renamed in his honor; he still holds the single-game scoring record at the University of Illinois, and State Farm Center has a “Club 53” commemorating his 53-point performance; and in his professional career, he was named Mass Mutual Man of the Year twice before turning 40 years old. Downey passed away at age 84 on December 27, 2025, but his life and legacy live on.
Among the many outstanding facts about his life, Downey may be the only person who chose to attend law school rather than play in the NBA. He never played a game for the San Francisco Warriors, who drafted him in 1963, but he did graduate from the College of Law in 1966, and his law degree remained a point of pride throughout his life according to his wife, Jane Hays ’79.
“Dave was truly one of a kind,” Hays said. “He was proud of his law degree from Illinois, and forever grateful for the education, friendship, patience, and forbearance of his professors and classmates.”
Coming from humble beginnings did not stop Downey from dreaming big. He made it to college on a basketball scholarship and worked part time to help make ends meet. He kept his job selling insurance as a law student, but despite employment was unable to pay for the needs of his growing family and buy all the books he needed. Though this frustrated some professors, his prodigious memory and the aid of study groups helped earn admittance to the Illinois bar.
Downey chose not to pursue a legal career, opting instead to continue with Mass Mutual and using his degree to advocate for the insurance industry in Washington, D.C., and helping organize the Advanced Association of Life Underwriters.
“He told people, self-effacingly, that he didn’t think of himself as a ‘real lawyer,’” Hays said. “Nevertheless, he knew his law degree and bar admission were vitally important to his successful career in advanced life insurance.”
Outside of professional life, Downey was committed to serving the community. He served on the University of Illinois Board of Trustees, the University of Illinois Foundation Board, the University of Illinois Athletic Board, and the Illinois Board of Higher Education, among other endeavors. He and Hays have also provided generous philanthropic support to almost every academic unit on campus, most recently endowing the Phyllis M. Wise Endowed Professor in Medicine and Innovation at the Carle Illinois College of Medicine.
For his professional and philanthropic efforts, Downey received the Distinguished Alumni Award from the College of Law in 1984. His blazer may not hang in the rafters of the Law Building the way his jersey hangs in State Farm Center, but he will not be forgotten. The College of Law sends its condolences to all of Downey’s family and friends.
