Ernest "Ernie" Davis - Elmira, NY
Posted by: 
neoc1
N 42° 05.825 W 076° 48.254
18T E 350802 N 4662130
A monument honoring legendary college football player Ernest "Ernie" Davis is located at in a plaza on the north side of Ernie Davis Middle School at 610 Lake Street, Elmira, NY.
Waymark Code: WMPN3T
Location: New York, United States
Date Posted: 09/24/2015
Views: 8
A 9' bronze sculpture of Ernie Davis stands on a 3' high by 3' square granite base inside a 2 tiered circular plaza at Ernie Davis Middle School in Elmira, NY. The statue was created by Bruno Lucchesi and erected in 1988. The football star is depicted wearing trousers, a turtleneck shirt, and waist length jacket. In his right hand he is holding a football and he is holding a pair of books in his left hand.
A bronze plaque on the front of the base is inscribed:
ERNIE DAVIS
1939-1963
1961 HEISMAN TROPHY WINNER
A football player ... a student
a friend ... -a hero
HE LIVED WITH INTEGRITY
AND DIED WITH COURAGE
This statue given by his admirers
as an inspiration to the youth of tomorrow.
In memory of a life
full of determination and honor.
Erected 1988
Ernest "Ernie" Davis was born on December 14, 1939 in New Salem, PA. Shortly thereafter, his father was killed in an accident and Ernie was cared for by his maternal grandparents, Willie and Elizabeth Davis, in Uniontown, PA. At age 12, his mother, Avis Marie Davis Fleming, took him to live Elmira, NY with her and his stepfather. He excelled at football at He attended Elmira Free Academy and accepted a scholarship attend and play halfback for Syracuse University.
As a sophomore, Davis, nicknamed the "Elmira Express", led the 1959 Syracuse team to a national championship with an 11–0 won-loss record. He was voted the Most Valuable Player in the 1960 Cotton Bowl game. Davis became the first black athlete to be awarded the college football's most prestigious award, the Heisman Trophy. He also won the Walter Camp Memorial Trophy after his senior-year season at Syracuse University.
In 1961, he was drafted by the Washington Redskins of the National Football League and, almost immediately, traded to the Cleveland Browns. Unfortunately, he was diagnosed with acute monocytic leukemia in 1962 and never played a professional game. He died in Lakeside Hospital, Cleveland, OH on May 18, 1963, at the age of 23. He is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in Elmira, NY.
Davis was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1979. In 2008, Universal Pictures created a film of his life, based on the book Ernie Davis: The Elmira Express, by Robert C. Gallagher.