Ernie Davis was the first Black player to win the Heisman Trophy. Born in New Salem, Pennsylvania in 1939, he moved to Elmira, New York with his mother and stepfather at the age of twelve. As a student at Elmira (N.Y.) Free Academy, Davis was a high-school All-American in football and basketball. Widely recruited to play running back in collegiate football, he chose to attend Syracuse University, in part because it was the school of his idol, Jim Brown. Davis gained national fame for three seasons (1959-1961), twice earning first team All-America honors.
As a sophomore in 1959, Davis led Syracuse to the NCAA Division I-A football national championship, finishing off the season with a record 11-0 winning streak. Davis was voted Most Valuable Player of the 1960 Cotton Bowl. In his junior year of 1961, Davis set a record of 7.8 yards per carry and was the third leading rusher in the country with 877 yards. He ran for 100 yards or more in six of nine games. The 1961 season featured a 8–3 win-to-lose figure, the most remembered match being against the Miami Hurricanes in the Liberty Bowl where Davis’ team won 15-14. Davis again won the Most Valuable Player award.
During his time at Syracuse, Davis wore the same number, 44, as had legendary Orangeman Jim Brown. In 1961, Davis accomplished another milestone when he became the first Black athlete to be awarded the Heisman Trophy following his senior-year. Nicknamed the “Elmira Express" Ernie Davis stayed true to the name by rushing for 2,386 yards in 300 attempts, 6.6 yards per carry while scoring 35 touchdowns in his career at Syracuse. President John F. Kennedy had followed Davis' career and requested to meet him while he was in New York to receive the trophy.
Davis was selected No. 1 overall in the 1962 NFL draft, becoming the first Black football player to be taken first overall. Despite his incredible athletic ability and down-to-earth personality, Davis was victim to racism several times in the early 1960s. He was selected by the Washington Redskins, and he was also drafted by the Buffalo Bills of the American Football League. Redskins founder and owner George Preston Marshall was an avowed racist who kept the Redskins entirely White long after the other teams had integrated. Davis refused to play for the Redskins and demanded a trade.
A deal with Cleveland was engineered by Browns coach Paul Brown. The Redskins traded the rights to Davis to the Cleveland Browns for Bobby Mitchell and first-round draft pick Leroy Jackson. Davis never played a game for the Browns, however, as he was diagnosed with leukemia before the College All-Star Game in July 1962. He underwent a variety of treatments in an attempt to return to football, but they were all unsuccessful. He died in a Cleveland hospital in 1963. Although Davis never played a down in the NFL, the Cleveland Browns retired his No. 45 jersey. Davis was posthumously inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1979.