Ernest Davis was an American football player, who won the Heisman Trophy in 1961 and was its first African-American winner.
Background
Ernest Davis was born on December 14, 1939 in New Salem, Pennsylvania. An only child, he said later that he never knew his father, who was separated from his family and died in an accident. Davis lived for his first eleven years with his grandmother in Uniontown, Pa. He then moved to Elmira, N. Y. , to rejoin his mother, who had remarried.
Education
Not a gifted student, Davis worked hard in his studies and graduated from Syracuse in 1962 with a better-than-average academic record. He was well liked on campus and chosen as a senior marshal at the time of his graduation.
Career
Davis was drawn to sports early. He played some baseball and was considered a good basketball player at Elmira Free Academy and later in college. But it was as a football player that he was to achieve fame. On the sandlots and for three years in high school, he played end and running back, setting school records for rushing and points scored, and gaining recognition as a regional and national all-star. Recruited by many universities, Davis finally chose to attend Syracuse, a ranking football power.
Visits from the legendary Jim Brown, the proximity of Syracuse to his home, and the friendship of his high school coach with the Syracuse coach, Ben Schwartzwalder, all played a role in his choice.
After playing on an undefeated freshman team, Davis starred on the 1959 national championship Syracuse varsity and went on to establish school records: total yards gained (3, 414), touchdowns (35), points scored (220), and total offense average per play (6. 8 yards). He eventually surpassed many of the records of Jim Brown, with whom he was often compared.
Syracuse ran from a winged-T and an unbalanced line and Davis played either tailback or wingback. From these positions he ran off tackle with the option pitchout, around end on the power sweep, on a reverse from the wing, or received a pass. He had great ability to "cut" up the field and the speed to outdistance the defense. In the 1961 Liberty Bowl, Davis gained 140 yards and led his team back from a halftime deficit to a 17-14 victory over Miami of Florida. But it was the Syracuse win over Texas in the 1960 Cotton Bowl that best typified his talents.
Although injured, he scored two touchdowns, broke open the game early with an improvised eighty-seven-yard run with a pass, and contributed a third-quarter interception that led to another score. He was voted the outstanding back in the game. The Cotton Bowl game also brought racial issues to the fore. There were claims (and denials) that racial slurs had been aimed at several of Davis's black teammates, charges Davis was to repeat in a television interview. He said at that time that he had not given much thought to the racial problems.
Consequently, some saw Davis as a symbol of black passivity. However, others found new appreciation for the black athletein his dignified and restrained response.
His close competition with Bob Ferguson of Ohio State, another outstanding black running back, seemed to signal a lifting of the barriers and to make possible similar recognition for other black players. After receiving the Heisman, Davis was the subject of spirited bidding between the rival professional football leagues. Selected by the Buffalo Bills of the American Football League and recruited by the Canadian League, he was also the first player chosen in the National Football League draft. This latter choice, by the Washington Redskins, caused comment because that team had never before drafted a black player. It was later revealed that there had been a prior agreement whereby Washington traded its rights to Davis to the Cleveland Browns, the team with which he ultimately signed a contract for a reported $80, 000.
But Davis never played professional football. He became ill with leukemia in the summer of 1962, while preparing to play in the College All-Star game. Later, after treatment in Cleveland and Bethesda, Md. , and with the disease said to be in "a perfect state of remission, " he resumed training. This decision, criticized by some doctors, apparently reflected a dispute between the Browns' management and the team coach, Paul Brown, who later said that he had never intended to let Davis play. The confusion may have developed because the management chose not to make public the full extent of Davis's illness.
Davis was finally told he had leukemia in early October. He discussed the situation frankly in a national magazine later that winter. Yet it is uncertain that he ever knew the grim prognosis, for he often told friends that he was planning to resume his football career.
He continued to work that winter on a film project for the team and as a salesman for a soft drink firm. After one last trip back East, he reentered Lakeside Hospital, Cleveland, where he died.
Davis may come to be known best as a symbol of the acceptance of the black athlete in intercollegiate sports. But this should not obscure his brilliant record as an athlete or the genuine affection people felt for this good man who tragically died young.
Membership
Davis was a member of The Pigskin Club of Washington, D. C. National Intercollegiate All-American Football Players Honor.
Personality
A quiet but inspirational leader, he worked tirelessly to improve his skills. Davis was by all accounts a cheerful, friendly, and gentle man with great affection for children. He was also noted for his grace and dignity in handling the public attention given a great athlete.
At six feet, two inches, and about 210 pounds, Davis was regarded as the complete football player. While best known as a runner (he ran for more than 100 yards a game eleven times), he was also an effective pass receiver, a good blocker, a fine option-play passer (until he injured a shoulder) and, in the absence of the free substitution rule, a good defensive back.