A movie celebrating the former Heisman Trophy winner’s life was released to movie theaters last Friday. From AP-
SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Ernie Davis never wore Nikes, until now. A new statue of the first black player to win the Heisman Trophy depicts him in modern-day football gear — including Nike cleats.
The problem is that Davis led Syracuse to the national title in 1959 and won the Heisman two years later, before Nike was formed.
The university unveiled the Davis statue last Saturday, a day after “The Express” — a movie about Davis’ life — had its world premiere at the Landmark Theatre in downtown Syracuse. The film opens nationwide in October.
Call it an honest mistake by the sculptor, 82-year-old Bruno Lucchesi of New York City, who said he was asked to work off a picture of Davis. The school said it also sent him football gear.
The statue has Davis wearing his famous No. 44 jersey, but “NIKE” is inscribed on the heel of each cleat, there’s a swoosh on his chest, and he’s holding a helmet much different from the one he wore.
Accidents happen, but one question remains. Will any of Davis’ surviving family members(Ernie died of leukemia at age 23 in 1963) get royalties from Nike? I’m not sure if that’s a serious question or not.
He played 15 years and had a less than unspectacular two seasons as an NFL head coach. RIP.
GREEN BAY, Wis. – Jim Ringo, a Hall of Fame center who played 15 seasons for the Green Bay Packers and Philadelphia Eagles, died Monday morning after a short illness. He was two days shy of his 76th birthday.
Former Packers teammate Willie Davis said Ringo, who lived in Chesapeake, Va., had been battling Alzheimer’s.
“One minute, you’re reliving an experience,” said Davis, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame with Ringo in 1981. “And the next minute, he’d be asking, ‘Who’s this?’”
The Packers drafted Ringo out of Syracuse in the seventh round in 1953, and he became one of the league’s best centers despite being undersized at just over 200 pounds.
“But what tenacity he had as a center in the NFL,” Davis said. “Probably, no one was better.”
But Ringo turned his relatively small size into an advantage, leading the way on the power sweep that made the Packers’ offense so effective.
“As Vince Lombardi once observed, Jim epitomized the toughness and determination needed to not only play the center position but to become one of the game’s most dominant offensive linemen of his era,” said Steve Perry, president/executive director of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. “On behalf of all of us at the Pro Football Hall of Fame, I extend my heartfelt condolences to Jim’s family.”
Ringo played for Green Bay through 1963, but a contract dispute led Ringo and Lombardi to part ways. According to Packers folklore, Ringo had the audacity to bring an agent with him to negotiate a new contract — and Lombardi traded him to Philadelphia on the spot.
“The story goes that Jim came in with a representative to visit with coach Lombardi about his contract,” Packers historian Lee Remmel said. “Vince excused himself, came back, and said ‘You now are a member of the Philadelphia Eagles.’”
As far as Davis is concerned, the story is true.
“Jim was probably not out of place,” Davis said. “But at that point, Lombardi was not prepared to have an intermediary.”
Agents, of course, now are an accepted part of the today’s game, something Davis said Lombardi would have struggled with.
“I don’t think he’d be a very happy camper,” Davis said.
It wasn’t the first time Ringo didn’t see eye to eye with a Packers coach. In fact, his Hall of Fame career almost was over before it started.
Remmel said that as a rookie in 1953, Ringo decided training camp was too tough and simply walked out one day. Then-coach Gene Ronzani sent one of the team’s scouts all the way to the East Coast to pick him up.
“It’s fortunate that he did, because he went on to become a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame,” Remmel said.
Ringo played for the Eagles from 1964-67. He was voted to 10 Pro Bowls and was chosen for the NFL’s All-Decade Team of the 1960s. He started in a then-record 182 consecutive games from 1954-67.
Ringo later went in to coaching. He replaced Buffalo Bills coach Lou Saban part of the way through the 1976 season, and the Bills lost their last nine games. He returned the following year, and the Bills went 3-11. Ringo was fired after the season and replaced by Chuck Knox.
Ringo’s death comes just a month after the death of former Packers receiver and broadcaster Max McGee, making for a tough couple of weeks in what has otherwise been a joyful season on the field the Packers.
“It does,” Davis said. “While each one kind of has its place, you can’t be oblivious to the McGee and Ringo kind of disasters. As far as I’m concerned, one of the best things that that could happen is for the Packers to go on and get into the Super Bowl.”
Ringo’s wife Judy said her husband was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 1996, and the couple moved to Chesapeake about 10 years ago. He lived at home for much of that time until moving to a treatment unit in nearby Virginia Beach, she said, and he had recently developed penumonia.
Kevin Mitchell, who played linebacker in the NFL from 1994-2003, has died.
Former NFL linebacker Kevin Mitchell died in his sleep at the age of 36.
Mitchell died overnight Sunday at his home in Ashburn [Virginia], near the Washington Redskins’ training facility, according to the team. An autopsy was performed Monday by the Virginia state medical examiner’s office. The cause of death was not immediately announced.
Mitchell was drafted in the second round out of Syracuse in 1994 by the San Francisco 49ers, who moved the undersized college defensive lineman to linebacker. He played with San Francisco until 1997, then signed with New Orleans (1998-99). He played his final four seasons (2000-03) with the Redskins.
“Anyone who knew him was touched by his smile, joy for life and love of his family,” Washington owner Dan Snyder said. “Anyone who ever played with him or against him never forgot it. He earned our deepest respect.”
Sad news.
