"At some point you have to come to an agreement with yourself, and I had reached mine a long time ago, while I was still on my bed You either overcome it or you let it consume you Davis once said a few days before his death that Ernie Davis had to overcome obstacles, that at a young age he had to deal with a problem of. stuttering, he never really dealt with it, he just kept going through those difficult early stages of his life helped him learn a lot of things Ernie Davis never gave up. Syracuse University to the national championship as a sophomore Ernie Davis was the first African-American man to win the Heisman Trophy and be chosen first overall in the NFL draft, but he. never played a professional game and died at the age of 23 after contracting leukemia. Davis was a great athlete but an even better person, even when he became popular he remained humble and didn't do it. allow the many racial and disrespectful comments to bother him because he is a black athlete in the south, at a time when African Americans were looked down upon and were not treated fairly, as he fought through major adversities and is also collapsed. obstacles in his quest to become the first black player to win the Heisman Trophy. Thus, the film The Express takes you into the dramatized story of a great man whose life was not easy but who possessed great personal qualities, in his quest for a career in the NFL. Is the film historically accurate or not? Ernie Davis was an American football player and the first black college football player to win the Heisman Trophy while playing at Syracuse University. He was also drafted by the Washington Redskins in the first round, but was later traded to the Cleveland Browns middle of paper......ball and should be treated the same as all other athletes. Ernie's difficult childhood made him the man and athlete he was. He was taught from a young age that family is everything and you have to do everything the right way. Ernie found success in sports early on and his attitude led him to play and become a star at Syracuse University. Ernie was a great athlete and leader, leading his team to the national championship his sophomore year. Ernie became a star, but remained the same guy who played small-time football in Elmira, New York; winning the Heisman Trophy opened many doors for generations of African-American athletes in college football. In his short time on this earth, Ernie touched and motivated many others to do the right thing and not judge others, just because their skin tone is different from yours..