Ernie Davis
American football player (1939-1963) · United States · On the map · Athletes · Died at 23
Ernest R. Davis was an American college football player who was a halfback for the Syracuse Orangemen and won the Heisman Trophy in 1961. He was the award's first black recipient. Davis was selected first overall by the Washington Redskins in the 1962 NFL draft but was almost immediately traded to the Cleveland Browns.
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He was diagnosed with leukemia that same year, and died shortly after at age 23 without ever playing in a professional game. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1979 and was the subject of the 2008 film The Express: The Ernie Davis Story.