“The Elmira Express” in his heyday.

I had last night marked off on my calendar for months, if not longer. In my mind, it was a night long overdue in the name of true story turned Hollywood cinema.

Just think……

Just think of what the reaction would be today if a noted American athlete dropped dead from an incurable disease at the age of twenty three. Dead just eighteen months after winning the Heisman Trophy(breaking racial barriers in doing so), just over a year after being the top pick in the NFL draft, the main cog in bringing his school its only national title ever in football.

We’ve seen the hype that took place after the tragic loss of Len Bias back in 1986 and how his memory lingers on enormously in the minds of basketball fans even now. Anyone who knows anything about baseball can recite the words “I consider myself…to be the luckiest man…on the face of the earth…” in reference to Lou Gehrig, who also was struck down way too early in life by an incurable illness.

Yet by comparison the story of Ernie Davis has been an afterthought in the world of sports, undeservedly. And hopefully the release of the major motion picture - “The Express” will go a long way in keeping Davis’ place in history intact.

The movie features Rob Brown in the lead role of Ernie Davis, and headlined by Dennis Quaid in the role of Syracuse coach Ben Schwartzwalder. The film is grounded in the portrayal of the relationship the two men had and the high racial tensions that existed at the time.

Personally(full disclosure - I grew up near the same town as Davis did and attended an inconference rival high school of his, as a sports fan I’ve had his story hammered into my head since grammar school) I believe the movie portrayed the personality of Davis well. While being amidst the civil rights movement of the sixties, Davis was never one to speak up loudly about the issues but simply one to let his play do the talking. And while race played a role at times in his college/pro career(Cotton Bowl/Redskins trading his draft rights), I thought the movie completely overplayed that aspect and should have focused more on the events occuring after his leukemia diagnosis was revealed and the heartbreak that surrounds someone leaving life far too soon.

That said I still ate it all up, loving the fact that finally Davis was getting some long overdue recognition outside of central New York(In Syracuse, where the Carrier Dome’s trophy room is named after him and Elmira - where he is buried and a statue of Davis sits outside his old high school) and Cleveland…where the Browns retired his number despite never playing a down.

Local notes of interest - not featured in the movie….did you know??

Ernie Davis was drafted by the (then AFL) Buffalo Bills and was offered more money to sign for the Bills than with Cleveland.

The last game that Ernie Davis ever saw action in was in the 1962 All-American Bowl at “The Rockpile” in Buffalo.

And just one more note: here’s an article Davis penned for the Saturday Evening Post that was published just weeks prior to dying in May of 1963. It was more or less his own “Lou Gehrig speech” and a good read.

The movie opens nationwide next Friday. See it and give an unbiased comment about it if you wish.

-pjf

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