During the Civil Rights Movement it was extremely hard to be a african american athlete. Throughout it and segregation some athletes stood up Jesse Owens to Jackie Robinson. Not only did they play but they were good at the sports too. Both of those athletes are well known for breakthroughs in african american sports but one important one is often forgotten and he is Ernie Davis. There is much to be learned about Ernie Davis and these are the most important.
- Heisman Trophy: This is by far Ernie Davis’s most important accomplishment of his whole career. The Heisman Trophy is awarded to the most outstanding college football player of the year. Ernie Davis was the first African American to win it. Before him only white people had had won it and african americans had not even been considered in the running before. Running back Jim Brown who is now considered one of the best players to live didn’t win it after a record breaking season with Syracuse. After that happened many people didn’t believe a african american could win the award for a while. Then Ernie Davis came along and broke most of Jim Brown’s records and won the Heisman Award in 1961.
2. NFL Draft: After his groundbreaking 1961 senior year playing football at Syracuse University he declared for the NFL draft. From an early age Ernie’s dream was to play professional football. The dream was very real as he declared and was projected to be drafted in the first round. When draft day came he was not only drafted in the first round but he was drafted number one overall. This made him the first african american to be drafted first overall in the NFL draft. The Washington Redskins drafted him and immediately traded him the Cleveland Browns where he would be reunited with former teammate Jim Brown. Many people were excited as the two best running backs in the country were on the same team. Sadly that was something that would never come.
3. Short Lived Life: After signing his $80,000 contract as a cleveland brown he would never play a snap of NFL football. Shortly after this period of time he was diagnosed with Leukemia Cancer. He battled the cancer for months on end. Trying to find hope, even though he was mostly likely to disease. After, a grueling 16 months of treatment, the battle had ended. Ernie died at the age of 23 on May 18, 1963. The football era suffered a horrific loss, to mighty to explain. But Ernie Davis was remembered with honor and respect.
4. Stutter Problem: One of the things not many know about Ernie is that he had a tough time speaking clearly when he was younger. During his road through his marvelous journey as a football player he received lots of awards. He would always practice in the mirror and practices for hours on end just so he memorize it. Ernie was hit by his uncle one time, although Ernie tried to tell the truth his uncle couldn’t understand him. So instead they just believed his uncle. All on this seemed to help him out in the end, especially when he won the College Football Heisman Trophy.
5. Leaving a Tremendous Legacy: Even though Ernie is forever out of our lives, he left with something to really remember. In 1979 he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. Also in 2005 Syracuse retired number 44 which was worn by Ernie Davis, Jim Brown, and Floyd Little. The Cleveland Browns also retired number 45 which was Ernie’s rookie NFL number. Even though he never wore it in a game they still retired iot to respect and honor him. Also in 2008 a movie came out called The Express which chronicled his life in an epic motion picture. In 1963 when his high school was honoring him, JFK sent a telegram saying how great of a man Ernie is and how he is a national figure.
Many students and staff at Syracuse were inspired by Ernie Davis’s legacy in the football program. By breaking multiple records recently held by Jim Brown, and winning Syracuse’s only Heisman Trophy. The decided to pay tribute to the man who did it all. They change the postal code to 132”44”. To represent his number in the code for what all Ernie has done for the University of Syracuse.