The gentle giant Linda Davies would come to know and love wasn’t so gentle when they first met in 2008 during his first few weeks at the University of Washington. Craig Noble Jr., a 6-foot-3, 320-pound freshman from one of the most notorious neighborhoods in Los Angeles stood up next to his new academic tutor, folded his massive arms across his burly chest and gave her his toughest tough-guy glare.
“He looked down his nose at me, this little old white lady, and he said, ‘I’m a thug, you know,’ ” Davies recalled.
She wasn’t to be intimidated.