How good would Ernie Davis have been? Was to play with Jim Brown before fatal illness

Ernie Davis was perhaps the greatest football player to never get to play in the NFL....he won the Heisman 45 years ago today, before many of us were ever born.

As a sophomore in 1959, Davis led Syracuse to the NCAA Championship, capping an undefeated season with a win in the Cotton Bowl. Ernie was voted Most Valuable Player of the 1960 Cotton Bowl and the 1961 Liberty Bowl.



Not sure if many around here even heard of this guy....he appeared to be destined for greatness before his tragic demise , this reminds of a lot of Lou Gehrig's story or even the Len Bias death as Davis was set to play alongside his idol Jim Brown another Syracuse alum.




Davis was the first player taken in the 1962 draft, selected by the Washington Redskins, who then traded his rights to the Browns. However, the organization's dream of pairing Davis with Jim Brown in the backfield took a tragic turn when Davis was diagnosed with leukemia during preparations for the college all star game.

Ernie was diagnosed with acute monocytic leukemia on Monday, July 30, 1962. He died on Saturday, May 18, 1963 and was mourned by the nation.

Though Ernie never played a game for the Cleveland Browns, they retired his number 45, worn only in practice.

How good were some of the former Cuse backs: Jim Brown, Ernie Davis, Floyd Little, Joe Morris, Larry Czonka and Daryl "Moose" Johnson.

I know there are some playing now like James Mungro, Kyle Johnson, Dee Brown and Rob Konrad (he's dome though)

They really do have a great tradition, not many people think about Syracuse and runners.

and the #44

I actually saw Eranie Davis play for Syracuse late in the 1961 season at Chesnut Hill Mass (BC's home stadium, it is still there only much bigger).

I was lucky enough that a BC grad His name was Mike who was kind of like a big brother to some of the less than fortunate kids from my home area (the Dorchester section of Boston) would take us to BC games, sometime hockey or basketball games but the most popular was football. That year Syracuse was a powerhouse coached by an old curmuddgen named Ben Schwartzwalder, they easliy beat the outclassed Eagles and won by a score of around 44 to 17 (somthing like that). I remember Earnie Davis scoring two TDs and then pretty much getting a rest because the game was out of hand.

Would he have been better than Jim Brown, impossible to tell but my gut feeling tells me no he would not have, Brown was just so much bigger and faster than everyone (including Davis) that it is hard to imagine anyone being a better player in those days.




Ernie Davis in December of 1961 after becoming the first Afro-American ever to win the Heisman Trophy.



wil.

Good story Wil.

Was Davis head and shoulders above everyone in college?

Looking back at his stats he didn't seem to have a ton of yards but did have a very high YPC, that is what I noticed anyway.

Micheal Owens #44 was he the biggest bust?

Ernie Davis ws not big by today's standards but he was fast.

Star-Gazette


Ernie Davis was the first black player to win the Heisman Trophy. A 6-foot-2, 212-pound left halfback, he was Syracuse's leading ground-gainer for three seasons.
In 1961, the year he won the Heisman - the only Syracuse player to do so - Davis gained 823 yards on 150 carries, averaging 5.5 yards. He scored 15 touchdowns, including 11 on the ground, and totaled 94 points. And he led the Orangemen in receiving with 16 catches for 157 yards.
Davis received 824 votes for the Heisman Trophy, winning by 53 in the second-closest vote in history. He beat out Ohio State halfback Bob Ferguson, who got 771 votes; Texas halfback Jimmy Saxton, who got 551; and Minnesota quarterback Sandy Stephens, who got 543.
Davis had to overcome regional preferences. He won only the East, while Ferguson captured the Midwest vote, Saxton the Southwest and Stephens the Far West. Alabama quarterback Pat Trammel, who finished fifth overall, took the South.


A two-time first-team All-American, Davis broke Jim Brown's Syracuse career records for rushing (2,386 yards), total offense (3,414), scoring (220 points) and touchdowns (35).


(Brown finished fifth in Heisman voting in 1956, the year Notre Dame quarterback Paul Hornung won the award.)


Most of Davis' marks have since been broken, and Davis now stands sixth at Syracuse in career rushing yards behind Joe Morris (4,299 yards from 1978 to '81), Larry Csonka, Floyd Little, David Walker and Bill Hurley. He's second in rushing touchdowns (28) behind Little (35).


Davis still holds the Syracuse career record for average gain per carry, with 6.6 yards.


He was elected to the College Hall of Fame in 1979.



He was a great alll around athlete though:

Ernie Davis' honor roll
Ernie Davis was a high school All-American in basketball as well as football at Elmira Free Academy. These are the top awards he won in both sports, from youth through college:

Football
- Elmira Small Fry all-star, 1953
- Southern Tier Conference* (STC) all-star, 1955, '56, '57
- STC championship team member, 1955, '56
- Elmira Junior Association of Commerce (JAC) Player
of the Year, 1956, '57
- The Sporting News second-team All-American, 1959
- Cotton Bowl Most Valuable Player, 1960
- Dell Crystal Ball All-American, 1960
- United Press International All-American, 1960
- ABC-NCAA All-American, 1960
- Charles R. Fisher Trophy (national college player and back of the year), 1960
- The Associated Press second-team All-American, 1960
- The Associated Press All-East team, 1960
- United Press International All-American, 1961
- The Sporting News All-American, 1961
- Newspaper Enterprise Association All-American, 1961
- Look Magazine All-American, 1961
- Central Press All-American, 1961
- Time Magazine All-American, 1961
- American Football Coaches Association All-American, 1961
- New York News All-American, 1961
- Sport Magazine Player of the Year, 1961
- Liberty Bowl MVP, 1961
- Walter Camp Trophy (college player of the year), 1961
- East-West Shrine Game selection, 1961
- Hula Bowl selection, 1962
- Syracuse University Athlete of the Year, 1961
- Heisman Trophy (outstanding player in the nation), 1961
- College Football Hall of Fame induction, 1979
- Legend of the Game selection by the Touchdown Club of America, 1997
- Syracuse University All-Century Team selection, 2000
- Cotton Bowl Hall of Fame induction, 2001

Basketball
- Neighborhood House grade school all-star, 1952-53, 1953-54
- Elmira JAC Player of the Year, 1955-56, 1956-57, 1957-58
- STC all-star selection, 1956, '57, '58
- STC tournament MVP, 1957
- STC champioship team member, 1956, '57, '58
- Scholastic All-American, 1958

* Elmira teams left the Southern Tier Conference in 1967 and formed the Sullivan Trail Conference with the Corning schools and others. That league folded in 1998.
Source: Star-Gazette files.





















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