Willie Davis

Sport: Football

Induction Year: 1977

University: Grambling

Induction Year: 1977

After his first recruiting visit to Willie Davis’ home in Texarkana , Grambling football coach Eddie Robinson was walking to his automobile. Suddenly, he wheeled and retraced his steps to the house.

“There is one thing I forgot to mention,” he told Davis ‘ mother. “Our football players are required to attend Sunday School and church every week.”

As he drove away, Robinson was smiling—confident that he had pushed the right button. The expression on her face assured the long-time coach that her boy was destined to be a Grambling Tiger.

A few months later, when Robinson had to end a practice session early because everybody who lined up opposite Davis was being carried off the field, an assistant coach said, “Just think what that kid will be able to do when he learns the proper techniques!”

“I have a better idea,” said Robinson. “Why don’t we teach the other players to use Davis ‘ techniques?”

Davis was selected on black college All-America teams two years in a row, and led the 1955 Grambling team to a perfect season and the mythical national championship for black colleges.

That team concluded its season in an Orange Blossom Classic matchup with Jake Gaither’s Florida A&M Rattlers. When a Florida A&M tackle stopped a Tiger on the first play, he taunted his victim. “I’m up for All-American,” he said, “so don’t come this way again!”

The next play was a trap, with Davis burying the boastful Rattler. “You’re up for All-American?” he said. “I can see why you’re not going to make it.”

His performance in Grambling’s 28-21 victory was good enough that the Cleveland Browns selected Davis in the 1956 National Football League draft—but not until the 15th round.

In two seasons with the Browns, he alternated between defensive end and offensive tackle. Then the Browns traded him to Vince Lombardi’s Green Bay Packers for an end named A. D. Williams.

“With your quickness, you can be a great pass rusher,” Lombardi told Davis . “I want you to know that you’re going to make it there, or you won’t make this ball club.”

Davis had found a home.

“Defense is really played with a certain frenzy,” he recalled later, “and my adrenalin flows pretty quickly.”

He became the Packer’s defensive captain, and Green Bay won NFL championships in five of his 10 seasons with the club. He recovered 21 opponents’ fumbles—one short of the NFL record at that time—and force what came to be known as “the million dollar fumble” when he talked Johnny Unitas in a 1965 game with the Colts.

Davis played in five Pro Bowls and two Super Bowls, and was selected All-Pro five times between 1962 and 1967. In addition to the essential physical attributes of size, speed and agility, he had the intangible assets required of a leader and champion. In 1981, he became the first Grambling product to be inducted into the pro football Hall of Fame.

Although he was a great player, Willie Delford Davis’ performances off the field were even more remarkable. He was a Dean’s List student at Grambling, and earned his master’s degree in business administration from the University of Chicago while he was playing with the Packers.

The discipline he acquired on the football field helped Davis overcome difficult classroom problems. “I equate my graduating from that business school with just about anything I achieved in football,” he said later. “There were days when it knocked me to my knees, but I fought my way through that university.’

He was the second winner of the Byron “Whizzer” White Award “for the player who has contributed most to the league, his team and community,” and in 1969 the governor of Wisconsin proclaimed a day in his honor.

The Packer’s dynasty ended when Lombardi left, and Davis retired after the 1969 season. For the first time in his life, football wasn’t fun any more.

Davis, who was born in the rural community of Lisbon , La. , on July 24, 1934, was well prepared to make the transition form captain of the Grambling Tigers and captain of the Green Bay Packers to a captain of industry. He would own several radio stations, and operate the Willie Davis Distributing Company. But he would never forget his roots and the two men who made ita all possible—Robinson and Lombardi.

Recalling his accomplishments in the business world, he said, “They were great feelings of elation—but nothing like those football championships. There is something about standing as a champion in sports that is unequaled in excitement.”