Your Mom and I watched the sports movie on Ernie Davis called THE EXPRESS. It was basically a biography of Davis life including excelling as football player at Syracuse following in the shadow of the great Jim Brown (who also attended Syracuse). Davis set all kinds of rushing records and in 1962 won the prestigious Heisman Trophy (the first black to ever do so). He was going to play professional football with the Cleveland Browns teaming up with Hall of Fame running back Jim Brown. Sadly, Davis died in 1963 of leukemia during the summer before he was to turn pro. He never played one minute of NFL football.
Fast forward a few years to 1966. I had my first sales engineering job with Allis-Chalmers. I would fly occassionally to the east coast to assist field sales people. On an October afternoon in 1966, I had a flight to Newark, N.J. with one stop in Cleveland. We landed in Cleveland around 5:30 PM with a half hour lay-over before flying on. I stayed on the airplane. Suddenly there was a lot of commotion coming down the aisle in front of me. There was a hulk of a man with very broad shoulders and a "chiseled" physique. He shuffled toward me and took the seat immediately in front of me. It was Jim Brown, the star running back of the Cleveland Browns. His team had won the NFL football game earlier in the day and he was flying to Newark for business reasons. I got to shake his hand and watch an airplane full of people try to get his autograph during the flight. He valued his privacy but was courteous.
So I got a brush of greatness. I knew Jim Brown's story. I think he retired that same year with every rushing record in the books after just 9 years. He quit "at the top" and went on to do movies in Hollywood. He probably should have won the Heisman Trophy while at Syracuse in the mid 1950's but being black probably had something to do with not getting the award. I still think Jim Brown may have been the best running back in NFL history.
The lesson Grasshoppers is that you never know when you will have a brush with greatness. It didn't change my life but it did confirm that Jim Brown was a real person just like you and I. He was just a little bigger, could run a little faster and made a lot more money.
Spring starts today. My snow tires come off next week. We will get a snow storm the following week. Dah!
Plant some flowers!
Love,
Dad