[NU Sports] Ernie Davis - 1961 Heisman Trophy Winner (Long)

[BSchooler at aol.com]

I first posted this personal story about coming of age in Elmira, NY, Ernie 
Davis and college football (with even a minor connection to Northwestern) to 
the Northwestern Sports List in June, 1997; a year and a half after joining what 
is probably the oldest surviving internet entity devoted to Northwestern 
sports. A couple months ago, I came across a hard copy of this post, so I revised 
it and posted it to HornFans - a tremendous internet site devoted to 
University of Texas sports. Since this is a great story, I thought I'd repost it to 
this List. A few of you may remember this post but most of you joined this 
venerable list serve after 1997. So here's to Mike Nolan, who has managed and 
operated the Northwestern Sports List since 1994 and here's to Ernie Davis, the 1961 
Heisman Trophy winner. Hope you enjoy reading this story as much as I enjoy 
telling it. Happy Fourth of July!    

I grew up in Elmira, New York. In 1948, the year I was born, this small 
industrial city had a population of 48,000. Elmira is part of the Southern Tier of 
western New York State just south of the Finger Lakes. Elmira is near Watkins 
Glen (race track), Ithaca (Cornell), Corning (glass works) and the 
Pennsylvania border. Elmira so closely resembled the post-war demographics of the nation, 
The University of Michigan decided upon Elmira as the site of a well known 
1948 voter survey that became known as "The Elmira Study". Much earlier, Elmira 
was known for a notorious Civil War POW camp. It was also the life long summer 
home of Mark Twain, who is buried in Elmira. You see, Clemens married a nice 
Elmira girl, Olivia Langdon. Other famous Elmirans are Tommy Hilfiger, who I 
knew well, and Eileen Collins, who is the commander of the next space shuttle 
mission.  And, of course, Ernie Davis.

I went to Elmira Free Academy, one of two public high schools in Elmira. On 
the other side of the Chemung River was our rival - Southside High School. 
Elmira Free Academy (EFA) was in the very tough Southern Tier Conference (STC); a 
conference that also included Southside, Ithaca and the five Binghamton area 
schools. In the 1930's, Elmira played a schedule that included schools like 
Massilon, Ohio and Rochester Aquinas. They even played in a high school bowl game 
of sorts called the Coconut Bowl against the top Florida high school team. 
For three years between 1955 and 1957, EFA was undefeated in basketball and 
football. They set a New York State record for consecutive basketball victories, 
52, that was eventually broken by the Power Memorial team led by Lew Alcindor. 
And EFA was even more dominating in football. The star player in both sports 
was Ernie Davis. He was an incredible athlete.

Ernie Davis moved to Elmira from Uniontown, PA at the age of twelve. An 
interesting coincidence in Uniontown was that one of Ernie's Pop Warner football 
teammates, Sandy Stevens, would go on to star as Minnesota's QB and join Ernie 
Davis on the 1961 AA team. Ernie Davis was a shy, unassuming guy who devoted 
himself to family, friends, teammates and community. Everyone liked Ernie Davis; 
he was a kind and gracious person. Ernie Davis was African American. This was 
the 1950's; before the Civil Rights movement. It's hard to put this into 
perspective because I was in grade school at the time, but Ernie Davis had an 
impact on the community that went beyond sports. You had to live there to 
experience it and appreciate what happened. 

There was never much doubt about where the 6'2", 212 lb. Ernie Davis was 
going to college. Not after Jimmy Brown personally recruited him. He was going to 
be the second in what would become a legendary line of great running backs to 
wear "44" at Syracuse. Ernie became nationally known as "The Elmira Express" 
and made the Scissors Play famous during his career at Syracuse. I became a 
life long college football fan listening to all the games on the radio. Ben 
Schwartzwalder's 1959 team, with Sophomore Ernie Davis at halfback, went 
undefeated, beat Texas in the 1960 Cotton Bowl (a game also remembered for alleged 
racism on the field as Texas played in the still segregated SWC) and won the 
national championship. 

There was tremendous anticipation in Elmira as November 28, 1961 approached - 
the day the Heisman Trophy winner was to be announced. No Black college 
football player had ever won this award. No one could predict how the vote would 
go. I was Downtown when word came that Ernie Davis won the Heisman Trophy. 
Everyone congratulated each other and celebrated as if we all had a role in Ernie 
Davis' honor. It was the biggest thing that had ever happened in Elmira. We 
were all so proud.

Soon thereafter came the NFL draft. In Elmira, you were either a Giants fan, 
like me, or a Browns fan. There was much speculation that the Browns wanted to 
pair Ernie Davis and Jim Brown in the same backfield. But the Washington 
Redskins held the number one draft choice. Fate seemed to be on our side, though. 
The Browns traded Bobby Mitchell, a great running back, to Washington for the 
number one pick. And on draft day, Cleveland made Ernie Davis the first pick 
of the 1962 college draft. For Elmira, this saga couldn't get any better. 

That Spring, a huge testimonial banquet was held in Ernie Davis' honor. 
Quoting from the "Elmira Salutes Ernie Davis" program, "Ernie's statistics and 
records some day may be wiped away by another Syracuse footballer; his awards may 
get dusty, the luster dull; but the reputation he has built for himself as 
Elmira's greatest Ambassador of Good Will on the field of sport will live long in 
the memory of those who have followed him from Small Fry days to that 
memorable Nov. 28, 1961, when he was voted the greatest football player in America. 
Tonight, Elmira salutes Ernie Davis!"  

My program bears the autographs of Ernie Davis, John Mackey, Dick Easterly, 
Pete Brokaw, Jim Brown, John Brown, Nelson Rockefeller and Willie Fitzgerald. I 
missed getting the autographs of Ben Schwartzwalder and Art Modell. On a 
somewhat humorous note, when my Uncle carried up my four year old cousin Billy to 
meet Ernie, who was sitting beside Governor Rockefeller, Billy loudly asked, 
"Which one is Ernie Davis?"

Back then, the first football game of the new season was the College All-Star 
game in which the college all-stars played the NFL champs from the previous 
season. The game was always held at Chicago's Soldier Field and the college 
all-stars practiced at Northwestern University. Naturally, Ernie Davis was a 
member of the college all-star team and people were expecting a great performance 
from the Heisman Trophy winner. But Ernie seemed sluggish. He didn't feel well 
and asked to see a doctor. At Evanston Hospital, Ernie Davis was diagnosed 
with Leukemia.

Ernie Davis never played another down of football. The Cleveland Browns and 
Art Modell did everything they could for Ernie and his family, but the disease 
progressed rapidly. Ernie Davis died in the Spring of 1963 at the age of 23. I 
was a high school Freshman at Elmira Free Academy. Ernie Davis' wake was held 
at the Neighborhood House; a sort of community center for Elmira's African 
American community. It was only a couple blocks from EFA, so I, along with the 
entire student body, went over during lunch hour to pay my last respects. It 
was the first time I had seen someone who was dead.

Things seemed to change after that. Later that year, Kennedy was 
assassinated. The next year, a new high school was built. The old building became Ernie 
Davis Junior High. The EFA teams were average, at best. Vestal High School, from 
a Binghamton suburb, became the new power in the STC. Their star player was 
Bob Campbell and he went on to prominence at Penn State under new head coach 
Joe Paterno. Elmira's economy began to deteriorate. Factories closed. Downtown 
became deserted. Suburbs like Horseheads took up some of the slack, but 
Elmira's population declined steadily to the current 32,000; a 33% decline from 
1948's population of 48,000. After graduating from college, I moved back to Elmira 
for a half year while waiting to be called to active duty with the Army 
Reserves. I haven't lived there since.

But I can still feel the excitement of going to a game at the old Parker 
Field. Trying to find a place to park, while blocks away, the stadium lights were 
like a beacon for the whole city. I can feel the November cold as EFA's Blue 
Devils took on the Southside Green Hornets in the last game of the season. The 
winner of that intra-city game held the Erie Bell for the next year. What 
anticipation just before kick-off against Ithaca's Little Red, Vestal's Golden 
Bears and Union-Endicott's Orange Tornado. They always had tough teams. And I'll 
never forget the excitement of seeing Ernie Davis play. But there will always 
be an accompanying feeling of emptiness. I'll always wonder what the late, 
great Ernie Davis could have accomplished. He would have been 66 years old this 
December.

Bob Schooler