October 2, 2008
BALTIMORE (AP) — Milt Davis, an All-Pro defensive back who helped the Baltimore Colts win two National Football League championships in the 1950s, died Monday in Oregon. He was 79.
The cause was cancer, the Baltimore Ravens confirmed. Davis spent four seasons with the Colts (1957-60) and led the N.F.L. in interceptions in 1957 and 1959. He played a key role on the 1958 team that beat the Giants, 23-17, in overtime in the championship game. Davis played with two broken bones in his right foot and forced a first-half fumble by Frank Gifford.
That season, Davis earned $7,000 as the Colts’ right cornerback. After two more seasons, he left football. He was angered at racism against black players and eager to finish work on his doctorate at U.C.L.A., where he played in college.
Davis was born on an Indian reservation near Muskogee, Okla., to parents of African-American and American Indian ancestry.
In 1954, Davis was drafted by the Detroit Lions — and the Army. After two years of military service, Davis joined the Lions but said he was told, “We don’t have a black teammate for you to go on road trips, therefore you can’t stay on our team.”
Davis received a tryout with the Colts in 1957 and signed as a 28-year-old free agent. He had 10 interceptions as a rookie, returned two for touchdowns and made the Associated Press All-Pro team.
Davis had seven interceptions in the 1959 season, and the Colts beat the Giants in the N.F.L. title game. When he retired, he had 27 interceptions in 45 games.
After his playing career, Davis scouted college players for N.F.L. teams. He taught high school in the Los Angeles area before working as a natural history professor at Los Angeles City College from 1964 to 1989. That year, he and his wife, Yvonne, retired and moved to Oregon.
Dropped from the Lions in 1954 because they had no other black players? Consider the change since then.
Made $7,000 the season that the Colts beat the Giants in over-time???
Quit the NFL to complete his PhD? Aside from Alan Page, how often does anything like that happen?
Professor of natural history for 25 years? Wow.
Story, and picture, at http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/02/sport ... wanted=all
(Note that picture shows Davis wearing #20, same number later worn by Johnny Sample, who used to cover Bobby Mitchell.)