He Refused to Play for the NFL's Most Racist Owner — JFK Shook His Hand Instead
NFL Untold Legends
95,744 views
December 4, 1961. The most racist owner in professional football was forced by the federal government to draft a Black player with the No. 1 overall pick. Two days later, that same young man stood in a Waldorf-Astoria ballroom, shaking hands with President John F. Kennedy — the first Black athlete ever to win the Heisman Trophy.His name was Ernie Davis. And he told George Preston Marshall to his face: I will never play for you.What happened over the next eighteen months is the story the record books can't hold. A $200,000 contract — the richest rookie deal in NFL history. A diagnosis that doctors, teammates, and even his own mother hid from him for two full months. A stadium full of fans cheering a man who didn't know he was dying. And a final quiet act — a dying 23-year-old handing down the legendary No. 44 to a nervous high school kid named Floyd Little — that outlived every touchdown he never got to score.They told you the score. They never told you the story.⏱
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20 Comments
I am proud to be an American like Mr. Ernie Davis.
🏈
That's the reason why the United States in NOT a Christian nation and it is why we never really get ahead.
Want America to be great? Change your hearts and your practices.
Go and develop some integrity, grow a backbone, and acquire some morals.
He Refused to Play for the NFL's Most Racist Owner — JFK Shook His Hand Instead
NFL Untold Legends
95,744 views
December 4, 1961. The most racist owner in professional football was forced by the federal government to draft a Black player with the No. 1 overall pick. Two days later, that same young man stood in a Waldorf-Astoria ballroom, shaking hands with President John F. Kennedy — the first Black athlete ever to win the Heisman Trophy.His name was Ernie Davis. And he told George Preston Marshall to his face: I will never play for you.What happened over the next eighteen months is the story the record books can't hold. A $200,000 contract — the richest rookie deal in NFL history. A diagnosis that doctors, teammates, and even his own mother hid from him for two full months. A stadium full of fans cheering a man who didn't know he was dying. And a final quiet act — a dying 23-year-old handing down the legendary No. 44 to a nervous high school kid named Floyd Little — that outlived every touchdown he never got to score.They told you the score. They never told you the story.⏱
New untold NFL stories every week. Subscribe and join us.