NEW YORK All Floyd Little wanted to do was dig into his steak and lobster, but Ernie Davis was keeping him from doing that.

At one point during Syracuse football’s recruiting trip to Little’s hometown to convince him to play for the Orange, Davis and Little were talking in the restaurant’s restroom for more than 30 minutes. After a while, Little just wanted to return to his seat and reach his food before it got cold.

So in order to eat his big meal, he put his arm around Davis and told him he intended to play for Syracuse.

‘I wasn’t sincere at all,’ Little said. ‘I wanted to get to my steak and lobster.’

Three months later, Davis died from leukemia. And Little’s insincere word quickly turned into a promise he couldn’t break.

‘My word is all I have, and I called on behalf of Ernie, I called coach and said, ‘Ben, I’m coming to Syracuse,” Little said to former SU head coach Ben Schwartzwalder.

That story was just one of many told Friday night at the New York Historical Society Museum and Library, as Syracuse athletics commemorated Davis’ accomplishment of becoming the first African-American to win the Heisman Trophy in 1961. The auditorium inside the Museum was filled to near capacity with 200 invited guests, including family members of the late Ernie Davis, former SU football and basketball players, athletic director Daryl Gross and Chancellor Nancy Cantor.

Perhaps the biggest Syracuse alumnus to show up Friday was Vice President Joe Biden, who made a speech on how important Davis was to breaking the color barrier.

The event also included a roundtable discussion called ‘Breaking Barriers, Building Dreams: The Landmark Achievement of Ernie Davis,’ featuring Syracuse alums like Little, former SU basketball player and current Detroit mayor Dave Bing, former football player and current executive director of the NBA Players Association Billy Hunter and former football player Art Monk.

The second African-American to win the Heisman Trophy, Mike Garrett, and sportswriter Frank DeFord were also on the panel, moderated by another SU alum, sportscaster Len Berman. Sportscaster Marv Albert was the master of ceremonies.

Though Biden said he never personally knew Davis, he was still inspired by what Davis accomplished and the courage he displayed with racism still prevalent around parts of the country.

That just like when John F. Kennedy was elected as the first Irish-Catholic president, Davis too had a big effect on the United States.

‘About year a later, when the Heisman Trophy Trust named Ernie Davis the winner of the Heisman Trophy, we understood that was a turning point as well,’ Biden said during his speech.

After Biden left the stage to a standing ovation, there was a seven-minute video tribute about Davis winning the Heisman. It detailed how he became a pioneer in the civil rights movement and his strength in the face of the disease that eventually killed him.

‘His greatness was well-felt while he was living,’ former SU running back and NFL Hall of Famer Jim Brown said in the video. ‘And his character was intact when he died, because he died with so much dignity.’

Garrett, who won the Heisman Trophy in 1965 for Southern California, said during the panel discussion he tried to embody the way Davis played during the award-winning season.

After his coach at USC told him he had a shot at winning the prestigious award, he walked out of the office knowing what he had to do it in order to fulfill that opportunity.

‘So I said what I will do is I will play every game like it’s my last game of the year,’ Garrett said. ‘But it’s a real easy thing to do because I tried to be like Ernie Davis.’

Afterward, Bing said that it’s important to continue to discuss what Davis meant to college football and the country as a whole. That unlike many athletes today, where the individual comes first, Davis was the complete opposite. It was never solely about himself.

Hunter said that unfortunately most players in today’s game don’t appreciate the players that came before them. That they don’t even have the knowledge of who played 10 years before them, let alone 50 years ago.

But for Little, he knows that Davis is still well known throughout the SU community. When football players from this year’s team walk in to talk with Little, a giant poster of Davis is on the wall.

‘Everybody knows the history of Syracuse University,’ Little said. ‘They see it in the stadium. They feel it. I mean it’s a part of our legacy, so all of the people that come to Syracuse, especially running backs, they know who Ernie Davis was.

‘We all aspire to want to have a little Ernie Davis in us, so yeah he’s still relevant.’

dgproppe@syr.edu

Published on December 10, 2011 at 12:00 pm