Ernie Davis And The T. C. Williams Titans

Do you know Ernie Davis? No, then perhaps you know the T.C. Williams Titans? The tremendous amounts of challenges both Ernie Davis and the Titans went through just to play football, a game in which they love is astonishing. In both these stories men were faced with choices to make, and not just for themselves but for everyone around them to see. Their stories took place in the 1960’s, a time when African Americans were being treated unfairly. I believe that society only saw what it wanted to see and only heard what it wanted to hear. Choices were made upon people because of the color of their skin, not because of how good they were or how hard they tried. But because the color of their skin! “We should judge people on their character, not their skin color.” (Martin Luther King Jr.)

Ernest Davis otherwise known as Ernie Davis was the first African American to win the Heisman trophy. Growing up Ernie was pushed around by whites. You see there was a line dividing the cities which wasn’t allowed to be crossed. One day while Ernie was collecting bottles he crossed the line not thinking and was greeted by a couple of white boys doing the same. They were devastated to see a negro on their side of the tracks. They said they’d let him go if he’d dropped his bottles by the time they counted to three. When they got to three and realized he had not dropped his sack they immediately tried to gang on him but he fought his way through and ran. When he soon realized he loved the feeling of running and hanging on to something at the same time he knew football would be the sport for him. So at a young age he began playing football. He started in a pee wee league where he was forced to stand out and by stand out I mean he wasn’t allowed to wear th...

... middle of paper ...

... home to the Titans. But before they became the Titans they were something else, they were segregated into a white and black school but were forced to become one. When the two football teams were united as one it was obvious that they had no respect for one another. Coach had a mandatory camp for the team to attend. When leaving the school coach Boone walked into the first bus only to see whites as he checked the second bus all he saw were blacks. He asked that both buses be cleared out and he paired the team one white and one black to a pair. They were to get to know each other because the person he paired them with was to be their roommate at camp. When they heard this both races complained but coach Boone wasn’t having it. When they reached camp coach Boone told them to get well acquainted. The following day they were to report to practice bright and early