Ernie Davis dated the late journalist Helen Gott while they were both students at Syracuse University. Halen is the first black member of the Sigma Delta Tau sorority.
Ernest R. Davis was an American college football player who was a halfback for the Syracuse Orangemen, a football team of Syracuse University.
From 1959 to 1961, he played at Syracuse for coach Ben Schwartzwalder and went on to national fame in each of three seasons, representing Syracuse.
Davis was selected first overall by the Washinton Redskins in the 1962 NFL draft.
Highlights
- Ernie Davis was an American college football player who played for the Syracuse Orangemen as a halfback and won the Heisman Trophy in 1961.
- Ernie Davis dated Helen Gott Gray while they both attended Syracuse University. They started dating when Davis was in junior year, and Helen was a sophomore.
- Davis passed away on May 18, 1963, at 23, following acute leukemia, while Helen passed away on November 11, 2023, at 81.
During his college years, Ernie Davis dated Helen Gott, who was pursuing her bachelor’s of journalism and political science at Syracuse University.
Their relationship lasted for a few years. They started dating when Ernie was in his junior year and Helen was a sophomore, as Ernie was a year ahead of Helen.
In 1963, when Helen Gott was in her senior year, and Davis had just graduated and was preparing to play in the college All-Star Game in 1962, he was hospitalized.
Later, Ernie Davis was diagnosed with acute monocytic leukemia, and three months later, he lost his life to cancer on May 18, 1963, at 23.
Ernie Davis’s Girlfriend, Helen Gott, Was The Longtime Religion Editor Of “The Kansas City Star”; She Passed Away In November 2023
Helen Gott was a native of New Jersey and was born to her parents, William and Cynthia Gott, on July 2, 1942.
She attended many schools in different states, as her father was an Army officer. After she graduated from Syracuse University, she earned a master’s degree in international relations from Columbia University in New York.
Helen began her professional journey as a journalist in 1965 when she was hired as a reporter at the Kansas City Star, a newspaper company.
Blog King Alert: Trailblazing journalist Helen T. Gray, quondam religion editor at the Kansas City Star and First Lady of Pleasant Green Baptist Church, passed away amid complications from an illness. She was 81. For more on this story, visit: https://t.co/nSZih9alfO pic.twitter.com/q8oHEXBz94
— Mass Appeal News (@Blog_King4Ever) November 14, 2023
Gott was the newspaper’s first Black female reporter. In 1971, she was named the faith and religion editor, a position she held until her retirement in early 2013.
During the early part of her career, Helen covered the local civil rights struggle and interviewed Martin Luther King Jr.
Helen also covers the riots in Kansas City following King’s assassination. She wrote extensively about the racism, discrimination, and the quality of life issues Black people in Kansas City faced.
Moreover, Gott married a Baptist minister, David L. Gray, who served as pastor of Pleasant Green Baptist Church in Kansas City. He served there from 1959 to 1996.
Similarly, Helen Gott Gray taught Sunday School for over 40 years until her health started declining in her late 70s.
Helen passed away on November 11, 2023, at 81. She was preceded in death by her parents, William and Cynthia, and her husband, Rev. David L. Gray, Sr.
Similarly, she is survived by her loving brother, Ron Gott, and her son, David Lee Gray, Jr.
Helen Gott Gray Had Described Ernie Davis As A “Kind Of Man A Boy Should Want To Be.“
Helen Gott was one of a handful of black first-year students at Syracuse University in 1959. As a freshman, she joined her friends on an excursion to Trippin’In, a nightclub on McBride and Madison Streets.
It was her first time meeting Ernie Davis, who had a different image as an athlete from what Helen had heard.
Davis was a sophomore, a year ahead of Helen when the two lovebirds started talking and getting to know each other.
#OTD Ernie Davis (Dec 14, 1939 – May 18, 1963). College football player, halfback for the Syracuse Orangemen. He won the Heisman Trophy in 1961. The award's 1st Black recipient. Davis was selected 1st overall by the Washington Redskins in the 1962 NFL draft but was almost… pic.twitter.com/X9MzhtOn1b
— Jazz the Professor (@Jazzieeiswhoiam) December 15, 2024
Ernie Davis and Helen Gott started dating in Davis’s junior year. In a talk with Syracuse University Press, Helen stated,
I didn’t know much about football, and I remember telling him I didn’t know he was a big star and laughing.”
Helen Gott Gray
Furthermore, Helen stated that her time with Ernie Davis was precious. She also mentioned Ernie’s lemon-green Edsel car, on which the couple often went in the drive.
Similarly, at Thornden Park, near SU, they often went for walks and to the Italian restaurant where they had their final meal together.
While talking about Ernie Davis, Helen stated that he was the kind of man a boy should want to be. She added,
“Ernie was a wonderful person; he could be gentle and kind, and still manly. That’s a really rare quality with men, but he was a rare individual.”
Helen Gott Gray
Additional Information
- In late December 1961, Davis signed a three-year, $200K contract with the Cleveland Browns, one of the most lucrative contracts for an NFL rookie.
- Ernie Davis was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in the fall of 1979. Following his demise, the Browns retired his number 45 jersey.
- A motion picture biography, The Express: The Ernie Davis Story, was released on October 10, 2008, based on the non-fiction book The Elmira Express: The Story of Ernie Davis by Robert C. Gallagher.
