1961: Ernie Davis became the first Black Heisman Trophy winner

Nov. 28, 1961

Ernie Davis became the first Black player to win the collegiate Heisman Trophy while a running back at Syracuse University. His life story was portrayed in the 2008 movie, “The Express.” 

By age 12, he excelled in sports, leading his high school basketball team in Elmira, New York, to a 52-game winning streak. He became a talented football player and was recruited to Syracuse University by alumnus Jim Brown, the legendary running back for the Cleveland Browns. Davis helped Syracuse win its only national title, defeating the University of Texas in the Cotton Bowl. Although he was named the game’s MVP, he wasn’t allowed to attend the awards banquet because of his color. 

When he won the Heisman Trophy, President John K. Kennedy congratulated him. “Imagine,” Davis said, “a president wanting to shake hands with me.” 

He was the first overall pick in the NFL draft, and the Cleveland Browns signed him to a record rookie contract to play in the same backfield with Brown, his childhood hero. But before he could compete on the field, doctors discovered he had leukemia. After his cancer went into remission, he practiced again with the Browns, but he was forced to reenter the hospital the following spring. 

On May 18, 1963, he died in his sleep at the age of 23. Thousands attended the funeral in Elmira, including members of the Browns team that he never played for. 

“Ernie Davis transcended racism. That was his essence. That was his greatness,” Jim Brown told Sports Illustrated. 

“Some people say I am unlucky. I don’t believe it,” Davis wrote in The Saturday Evening Post. “When I look back, I can’t call myself unlucky. … In these years I have had more than most people get in a lifetime.”