Glenn Woodward Davis (December 26, 1924 – March 9, 2005) was an American

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player who was a halfback. He won the

Heisman Trophy The Heisman Memorial Trophy ( ; also known simply as the Heisman) is awarded annually since 1935 to the top player in college football. It is considered the most prestigious award in the sport and is presented by the Heisman Trophy Trust followin ...

in 1946 while playing

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the Army Cadets. Known as "Mr. Outside", he played for Army from 1943 to 1946, receiving the

Maxwell Award The Maxwell Award is presented annually to the college football player judged by a panel of sportscasters, sportswriters, and National Collegiate Athletic Association head coaches and the membership of the Maxwell Football Club to be the best all ...

in 1944 and

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

honors three consecutive years from 1944 to 1946. The Cadets compiled a 27–0–1 record during Davis's three years as a varsity player and won the national championship each year. After completing his military service, Davis also played professionally for the

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Greater Los Angeles, Greater Los Angeles area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL) in 1950 and 1951.

Early life

Davis was born and raised in

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

, the son of a bank manager. Glenn and his twin brother Ralph played high school football at Bonita High School in

La Verne, California La Verne is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 31,334 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. History The area was home to Native Americans. The European history of the area dates back to the ...

. In 1942, Davis led the Bearcats to an 11–0 record and the school's first-ever football championship, earning the Southern Section Player of the Year award. In 1987, Bonita High's stadium was dedicated in his name. The brothers were close and had originally planned to attend

USC USC may refer to: Education United States * Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, Santurce, Puerto Rico * University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina ** University of South Carolina System, a state university system of South Carolina * ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, but when their

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

agreed to sponsor them with appointments to West Point, they decided to go there.

College football career

At West Point, under coach

Earl Blaik Earl Henry "Red" Blaik (February 15, 1897 – May 6, 1989) was an American football player, coach, college athletics administrator, and United States Army officer. He served as the head football coach at Dartmouth College from 1934 to 1940 and at ...

, Davis played fullback in his freshman season. Blaik moved him to halfback for his three varsity seasons, while Doc Blanchard took over at fullback. With Davis and Blanchard, Army went 27–0–1 in 1944, 1945, and 1946. Davis was nicknamed "Mr. Outside", while Blanchard was "Mr. Inside". Davis averaged 8.3 yards per carry over his career and 11.5 yards per carry in 1945; both results are records which still stand today. Davis led the nation in 1944 with 120 points. He scored 59 touchdowns, including eight on his freshman squad, in his career. His single-season mark of 20 touchdowns stood as a record for 10 years. Blanchard and he set a then-record 97 career touchdowns by two teammates. (The record was broken by

backs Reggie Bush and

LenDale White LenDale Anthony White (born December 20, 1984) is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL). He was selected by the Tennessee Titans in the second round (45th overall) of the ...

, who had 99 career touchdowns.) In 2007, Davis was ranked No. 13 on

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

's list of Top 25 Players in College Football History. For all three varsity years at West Point, Davis was a "consensus"

player (that is, selected by all the different groups picking All-America teams). In 1944, he won the

and the Walter Camp Trophy, and was runner-up for the

. In 1945, he was again runner-up for the Heisman (won by his teammate Blanchard). In 1946, he won the Heisman and was named the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

Male Athlete of the Year. In 1961, Davis was inducted into the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive Tourist attraction, attraction devoted to college football, college American football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players ...

. Davis also starred in

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

, and track at West Point.

After West Point

Davis graduated from West Point in June 1947 and entered the U.S. Army as a second lieutenant. He was offered a contract and $75,000 signing bonus by the Brooklyn Dodgers, but declined, as he was required to serve in the Army and would be a relatively old rookie after that. In spite of Davis' service obligation, the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. The team plays their home game ...

of the

selected Davis with the second overall pick of the 1947 NFL draft, held in December 1946. In September 1947, the

acquired the rights to Davis from the Lions. He applied to resign his commission in December, but was refused by the

Secretary of the Army The secretary of the Army (SA or SECARMY) is a senior civilian official within the United States Department of Defense, with statutory responsibility for all matters relating to the United States Army: manpower, personnel, reserve affairs, insta ...

Kenneth Royall. Davis was also denied extended furloughs or other accommodations that might allow him to play football while serving in the Army. There was public feeling that after the expense of his West Point education, he should not just go off to play football. Davis (and Blanchard) did earn $25,000 each by appearing in the low-budget movie '' The Spirit of West Point'' (about their football careers). Davis tore a ligament in his right knee during filming. Davis served three years in the Army. While on leave in 1948, he attended the Rams training camp and played in a preseason game. He then reported for duty in

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

(this was before the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

, which began after he returned to the U.S.). Glenn Davis 1950 Bowman

Professional football career

Davis' service obligation ended in 1950, and he finally joined the Rams for their 1950 season. Despite his knee injury, Davis was an effective player, and was even named to the 1950

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (since 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's All-star, star players. The format has changed ...

on the strength of his 42 catches for 592 yards as a receiver and 416 yards on 88 carries as a runner; he had seven total touchdowns. He scored the first touchdown of the 1950 NFL Championship Game on an 82-yard touchdown catch from

Bob Waterfield Robert Stanton Waterfield (July 26, 1920 – March 25, 1983) was an American professional football player and coach. A skilled player, he played in the National Football League (NFL) for eight seasons, primarily as a quarterback, but also as a ...

; the Rams narrowly lost 30–28. In 1951, he injured his knee again, and he ran for a total of only 290 yards from scrimmage. He caught three passes for ten yards while running the ball six times for -6 yards in the 1951 NFL Championship Game, which Los Angeles won 24–17. He did not play for the team in the 1952 season. In September 1953, the Rams released him, ending his professional career.

Post-football life

Davis moved to

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

to work in the

oil industry The petroleum industry, also known as the oil industry, includes the global processes of exploration, extraction, refining, transportation (often by oil tankers and pipelines), and marketing of petroleum products. The largest volume products ...

, but returned to California a few years later. He became special events director for the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'', organizing and directing the newspaper's charity fundraising events. He held this job until his retirement in 1987. The ''Times'' gave the annual Glenn Davis Award in his honor (not to be confused with the Glenn Davis Army Award).

Personal life

Davis was married three times. In 1948, he dated actress

Elizabeth Taylor Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor (February 27, 1932 – March 23, 2011) was an English and American actress. She began her career as a child actress in the early 1940s and was one of the most popular stars of classical Hollywood cinema in the 19 ...

. From 1951 to 1952 he was briefly married to film actress Terry Moore. In 1953, Davis married Ellen Slack; they were married for 42 years, until her death in 1995. They had one son, Ralph. In 1996, Davis married Yvonne Ameche, widow of NFL star and fellow

Winner Alan Ameche. Davis was survived by his wife Yvonne, his son, Ralph, and a stepson, John Slack III. Davis was sometimes confused with Olympic medal-winning athlete and

wide receiver Glenn Ashby Davis (1934–2009); the two men occasionally received each other's mail, but they never met.

Death

Davis died of

prostate cancer Prostate cancer is the neoplasm, uncontrolled growth of cells in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system below the bladder. Abnormal growth of the prostate tissue is usually detected through Screening (medicine), screening tests, ...

at La Quinta, California, at age 80 on March 9, 2005. He is interred in

West Point Cemetery West Point Cemetery is a historic cemetery on the grounds of the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York, West Point, New York (state), New York. It overlooks the Hudson River, and served as a burial ground for Continental Army s ...

Notes and references

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Glenn 1924 births 2005 deaths American football halfbacks American men's basketball players Army Black Knights baseball players Army Black Knights football players Army Black Knights men's basketball players Army Black Knights men's track and field athletes Los Angeles Rams players All-American college football players College Football Hall of Fame inductees Heisman Trophy winners Maxwell Award winners Western Conference Pro Bowl players United States Army officers Players of American football from Burbank, California Sportspeople from Claremont, California Sportspeople from La Verne, California Players of American football from Los Angeles County, California Basketball players from Los Angeles County, California Track and field athletes from California American twins Deaths from prostate cancer in California Burials at West Point Cemetery Military personnel from California Second overall NFL draft picks 20th-century American sportsmen