movie about Ernie Davis shows WVU in false light

[bluefieldRocks 14]

http://www.dailymail.com/Sports/WVUSports/200810080283

 

 

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A movie about the first African-American to win college football's Heisman Trophy includes a dramatic scene from Morgantown, where fans hurl garbage and racial epithets at the player and his Syracuse teammates.

 

 

 

However, the ugly incident did not happen, according to players on both sides.

 

Opening Friday in theaters across the nation, "The Express" is a film about Ernie Davis, who won college football's most coveted award in 1961 and died of leukemia two years later. It stars Rob Brown as Davis and Dennis Quaid as Syracuse Coach Ben Schwartzwalder.

 

A review in the show business publication "Variety" says the movie's "most electrifying sequences portray Schwartzwalder's unbeaten 1959 Syracuse U. team playing West Virginia and Texas -- not exactly two bastions of racial tolerance -- with a level of racist vitriol pouring out of the stands that is a topical reminder of America's racial heart of darkness."

 

However, West Virginia and Syracuse did not play in Morgantown in 1959.

 

Davis and the Orangemen visited Mountaineer Field only once, on Oct. 22, 1960.

 

Dick Easterly, 69, of Tampa, Fla. was the Syracuse quarterback that day, when Davis rushed 14 times for 125 yards before a sparse crowd of 20,000.

 

Easterly saw "The Express" at a critics' preview last week in Tampa.

 

"I apologize to the people West Virginia because that did not happen," Easterly said. "I don't blame people in West Virginia for being disturbed. The scene is completely fictitious."

 

Now in his 62nd year of writing about WVU football, Mickey Furfari was in the press box, covering the game for the Morgantown Dominion-News.

 

"It's stupid," Furfari said of the scene. "It's pure fiction. The moviemakers should be absolutely ashamed.

 

"I am a strong believer in the First Amendment and of course it gives people the right to express themselves in truly idiotic and embarrassing ways. This is certainly an example."

 

Furfari noted Schwartzwalder was proud of his West Virginia roots. Schwartzwalder was born in Point Pleasant, and coached at Sistersville and Parkersburg high schools in the 1930s.

 

"Ben Schwartzwalder would be turning over in his grave about this," he said.

 

West Virginia's quarterback was Dale Evans, who's a retired high school and college coach now living in Spartanburg, S.C.

 

"It was 48 years ago, but something that ugly -- I would have remembered that," said Evans, 71. "I don't recall anything negative happening."

 

Evans, a native of Thomas in Tucker County, did recall one encounter with Davis in that 45-0 WVU loss.

 

Evans was hit late out of bounds and instinctively started to retaliate against the Syracuse player when Davis intervened.

 

"He grabbed my arm and said, "Don't lose your composure," Evans said. "Ernie was a very composed and an in-control football player."

 

Syracuse teammate Patrick Whelan joined Easterly at the preview last week.

 

Whelan, 71, of Safety Harbor, Fla., played center for the Orangemen.

 

"It's not important to the people who weren't there," Easterly told the St. Petersburg Times. "But we're sitting watching this thing, saying, 'Jeez, where did they get that from?'''

 

Clendenin High School's Donnie Young was being recruited by WVU Coach Gene Corum in 1960.

 

The next year, he enrolled at WVU, where he played linebacker and defensive guard.

 

"That's just awful," he said of the scene. "I was there in the early 1960s and there was simply nothing like that happening in Morgantown, either in athletics or otherwise.

 

"I've been involved in West Virginia football as a player, assistant coach and administrator for 43 years and I've never seen anything like that happen."

 

Cabell County extension agent and WSAZ-TV personality John Marra, 64, grew up in Morgantown and was a Morgantown High student in 1960.

 

"I would boycott the movie," Marra said. "I'm very embarrassed that a producer would put that type of scene in the movie."

[Guest JJBrickface]

That is a big time shame. Its good to see that the former Syracuse players are standing up for the people of West Virginia. Unfortunately, there will be a lot of people who will think that it really happened.

[fieldgeneral 10]

I'm glad that the crap slinging was removed from this thread.

 

The scene should be pulled from the film or a statement before the film that says that the incident did not take place.

[Hacker 82]

I haven't seen the flick, and will probably wait for the DVD, but the story of Ernie Davis is one that we should celebrate. I read a book about him when I was in school and was impressed with what he accomplished. It is a shame that we lost the chance to enjoy what he would have accomplished had he lived.

 

Hollywood loves to create some dramatic fiction in its historcal pieces. They don't care if those scenes are accurate, they will combine incidents to make the story "better".

[fieldgeneral 10]

This is true, but it's sad that they have to "enhance" a story to make it interesting in their eyes. I think the story of this young man is incredible. I don't understand why hollywood has to be stereotypical of a state to tell this story.

[GMan 3,569]

I'm glad that the crap slinging was removed from this thread.

 

You're welcome...

[bhs7695 185]

Hell, even "We Are Marshall" wasn't close to 50% accurate. I'm surprised the script writers got the plane crash and victory next season correct.

[MavsRock 21]

Hell, even "We Are Marshall" wasn't close to 50% accurate. I'm surprised the script writers got the plane crash and victory next season correct.

 

They usually aren't right. I remember when "Remember the Titans" came out. Remember the 9-7 win the the movie championship, it was actually 27-0 I found out, but that's a minor discrepency compared to what their doing in the Davis movie.

 

WVU needs to raise a stink on this one. If it had happended, that's one thing, if not, get your facts strait.

[hokie07 11]

They usually aren't right. I remember when "Remember the Titans" came out. Remember the 9-7 win the the movie championship, it was actually 27-0 I found out, but that's a minor discrepency compared to what their doing in the Davis movie.

 

You're exactly right. Directors of movies often times exaggerate the plots in the movie to create one thing: dramatization. Producers will create falsified information while they write their script because some things just aren't as nearly exciting as it is without it. Obviously, there is a point at which it becomes total fiction and takes away from the story once the truth is revealed, but that isn't what the producer is looking for. He/she is looking to write a good story and produce a hit movie.

 

"We Are Marshall" was written to tell a story of a university and community rising from tragedy. "Remember the Titans" only meaning was to tell a story of triumph over segregation, and I'm sure "The Express" has the intention to re-create the story of the first black Heisman Trophy winner.

 

Welcome to Hollywood.

[bhs7695 185]

"Friday Night Lights" championship game was incorrect as well. In real life, the game against Dallas Carter that year was actually the state semi-final and Odessa Permian lost 14-9. Carter had to come back in the fourth quarter of that game and Carter was also never the #1 team in Texas that year.

Edited October 16, 2008 by bhs7695

[blufan04 12]

I guess because we believe in marrying the opposite sex, Hollywood thinks we are canabals and racist too. Hollywood definately needs to get their facts straight!