Davis, the first black Heisman recipient, broke Jim Brown’s rushing, scoring and touchdown records at Syracuse. “You can’t instruct a boy to tackle a man if he can’t catch him,” Penn State coach Joe Paterno once said of him. Tragically, leukemia kept Davis from ever suiting up in the pros. He died in 1963, just 23 years old. A movie about his life, The Express, was released in 2008. — Sean Gregory
Top 10 Heisman Trophy Winners
Mark Ingram became Alabama's first Heisman Trophy winner Saturday night, Dec. 12, snagging one of sport's most coveted pieces of hardware — the first for the school's storied football program. Ingram, who hails from Flint, Mich., claimed the 75th prize in a tightly contested race, edging out Stanford running back Toby Gerhart, Nebraska defensive lineman Ndamukong Suh and quarterbacks Tim Tebow of Florida — the 2007 Heisman winner — and Colt McCoy of Texas. Here's a look at TIME's top 10 Heisman winners.