Ernie Davis
Halfback • 1960, 1961
Nicknamed the “Elmira Express” by sportswriter Al Mallette, Davis led Syracuse to a 26-5 record from 1959-61. As a sophomore in 1959, Davis scored two touchdowns against Texas in the Cotton Bowl to help the Orange complete a perfect season and capture the program’s only national championship. Two years later, Davis became the first African American and the only SU player to win the Heisman Trophy. He was selected first overall by the Washington Redskins in 1962 and traded to Cleveland. He was diagnosed with leukemia the following summer and died in 1963 at the age of 23, without ever playing in a professional game. The Browns retired his No. 45 jersey shortly after his death, and Davis was posthumously inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1979. In 2008, he was subject of the Universal Pictures film, “The Express,” starring Dennis Quaid, Rob Brown and Charles S. Dutton. The film was based on the non-fiction book “Ernie Davis: The Elmira Express” by Robert C. Gallagher.
Nicknamed the “Elmira Express” by sportswriter Al Mallette, Davis led Syracuse to a 26-5 record from 1959-61. As a sophomore in 1959, Davis scored two touchdowns against Texas in the Cotton Bowl to help the Orange complete a perfect season and capture the program’s only national championship. Two years later, Davis became the first African American and the only SU player to win the Heisman Trophy. He was selected first overall by the Washington Redskins in 1962 and traded to Cleveland. He was diagnosed with leukemia the following summer and died in 1963 at the age of 23, without ever playing in a professional game. The Browns retired his No. 45 jersey shortly after his death, and Davis was posthumously inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1979. In 2008, he was subject of the Universal Pictures film, “The Express,” starring Dennis Quaid, Rob Brown and Charles S. Dutton. The film was based on the non-fiction book “Ernie Davis: The Elmira Express” by Robert C. Gallagher.
