Harrigan guided the Express

Provided by Chemung County Historical Society, Elmira Mary Harrigan, Ernie Davis's football coach at EFA, with Davis' mother, Marie Fleming, and her husband, Harold, at the dedication of the statue in front of Ernie Davis Middle School in 1988.

If not for an ankle injury to a high school teammate, Ernie Davis might never have won the Heisman Trophy.

Davis, a star high school athlete at Elmira Free Academy, initially played defensive and offensive end. He played tackle in Elmira Small Fry football.

But during his junior year at EFA, after a running back suffered an ankle injury, coaches moved the 6-foot, 175-pound Davis to halfback. He averaged 100 yards a game that year as the Blue Devils went undefeated and won the championship of the old Southern Tier Conference, which the Elmira schools left in 1967 to form the Sullivan Trail Conference with the Corning schools and others.

Davis went on to Syracuse to become the first black player to win the Heisman, which recognizes the nation's best player in college football.

The move from end to halfback was made by Marty Harrigan, Davis' coach at Academy, who became his close friend and mentor. Harrigan is credited with being partly responsible for the success of the player who later earned the nickname the Elmira Express.

The blocking and tackling fundamentals that Davis learned at end helped make him a great running back, Harrigan said. But he said it was Davis' speed, amazing moves and field awareness that made him a superstar.

"With one step, he would get by a defender, and then, zoom, he was gone," recalled Harrigan, slapping his thigh for emphasis.

But Davis also had natural talent, said his old high school teammate, Lew "Buzzy" Stark, who was a second-string quarterback.

"But even though he had that God-given ability, he still worked hard at becoming better," said Stark.

As a high school halfback, Davis played 13 games. He carried the ball 179 times for 1,314 yards, an average of 7.4 yards per carry. He scored a school-record 138 career points on 21 touchdowns and 12 placement kicks. He played in the first Section 4 All-Star game and was voted the game's top player.

Davis also was a star basketball player. He led EFA on a 52-game victory streak and two successive sectional championships.

And he played high school baseball, as a pitcher and first baseman.

"He had great natural abilities," said Harrigan, who coached Davis for four years. "Everything about him made him a great guy to coach."