I was in a corporate office last week during a “wear your jersey to work day”, in honor of the new football season kicking off.  One person I was introduced to was wearing a Syracuse #44 jersey.  I’m a huge sports fan, and I asked who it was.  “Ernie Davis,” was the reply.  I still didn’t know who that was.  “The first African-American to win the Heisman trophy,” he told me. 

So my curiousity peaked, I did a google search for Ernie Davis.  What an amazing story.  I’m shocked I didn’t know who he was.  A three sport star in high school in the late 50s, he went on to star at Syracuse from 59-61, where his senior year he became the first African-American player to win the Heisman trophy.  He was the number one draft pick in the NFL, but never got a chance to play as he died suddenly after from leukemia.

The article I read talks about how bad the race relations were back then.  Ernie won the MVP trophy at the 1960 Cotton bowl against Texas, but he was only allowed to pick up his trophy at the reception dinner and not stay, because only whites were allowed.  This reminds me of the movie and book Glory Road, about Texas Western’s 1966 national basketball championship.  What they had to go through at the time was amazing.  Definatly worth checking out.

But the Ernie Davis story is both amazing and sad.  I found this great article about him if you want to investigate further: http://espn.go.com/classic/biography/s/davis_ernie.html