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Did Ernie Davis win a national championship?
A three-time All-American halfback and 1961 Heisman Trophy winner, Ernie Davis led Syracuse University to the national championship as a sophomore and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1979.
Is the Ernie Davis story true?
Development. The premise of The Express is based on the true story of Ernie Davis, the charismatic athlete who became the first African American to win the Heisman Trophy, college football’s greatest achievement. Davis was told of his terminal illness, leukemia, during the summer of 1962.
What happened to Ernie Davis?
ESPN Classic – Davis, 23, succumbs to leukemia. After a 13-month battle against acute monocytic leukemia, the most virulent form of blood cancer, Ernie Davis succumbs to the disease and dies early this morning in a Cleveland hospital. In 1961, Davis became the first African-American to win the Heisman Trophy.
How many national football championships has Syracuse won?
1
| Syracuse Orange football | |
|---|---|
| Claimed national titles | 1 (1959) |
| Conference titles | 5 (1996, 1997, 1998, 2004, 2012) |
| Rivalries | Boston College (rivalry) Pittsburgh (rivalry) West Virginia (rivalry) Penn State (rivalry) Colgate (rivalry) |
| Heisman winners | 1 (Ernie Davis) |
Did Ernie Davis win the Cotton Bowl?
The favored Orangemen won, 23–14….
| 1960 Cotton Bowl Classic | |
|---|---|
| Season | 1959 |
| Stadium | Cotton Bowl |
| Location | Dallas, Texas |
| MVP | Ernie Davis (Syracuse RB) Maurice Doke (Texas G) |
How much of the Express movie is true?
The scene is completely fictitious.” There are elements of truth in the Cotton Bowl segment, which accounted for three pages in The Elmira Express, Robert C. Gallagher’s biography of Davis that is the alleged basis for the film but accounts for probably 15 to 20 minutes of the two-hour movie.
What does Jim Brown say about Ernie Davis?
“The way he carried himself, the way he did not drown in his own tears, the way that he did not hang on his sickness, the way that he functioned as a human being under all of those conditions was tremendous courage,” says Jim Brown about Ernie Davis.
Where did Ernie Davis play basketball and football?
College career. After winning the Heisman Trophy, Ernie Davis talked Floyd Little into doing an about face and play football for Syracuse instead of Notre Dame. Davis also played basketball at Syracuse for one season 1960-1961. Syracuse University, as a way to honor all of the athletes that have worn the number 44,…
How tall was Ernie Davis at Syracuse University?
Nothing Ernie Davis did on or off the field at Syracuse University ever detracted from the nickname he earned at Elmira Free Academy. Davis, a superbly-conditioned 6-foot-2 inch, 205-pound halfback, played a key role in SU’s drive to its only football national championship — and he was only a sophomore at the time.
What did Ernie Davis do after winning the Heisman?
After winning the Heisman Trophy, Ernie Davis talked Floyd Little into doing an about face and playing football for Syracuse instead of Notre Dame. Davis also played basketball at Syracuse for one season 1960-1961.
When was Ernie Davis inducted into the Hall of Fame?
He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1979, and was the subject of the 2008 Universal Pictures film The Express: The Ernie Davis Story, based on the non-fiction book Ernie Davis: The Elmira Express, by Robert C. Gallagher.