 During his Cotton Bowl visit to host city Dallas, Texas, Ernie and his black teammates found discrimination prevalent in the American South.Author Jocelyn Selim writes that at the banquet following the 1960 game, Davis was told he could only accept his award and then would be required to leave the segregated facility when the doors were opened to the public for a dance.Despite the racial issues, Davis became the first black athlete to be awarded the Heisman Trophy (the highest individual honor in collegiate football) and he also won the Walter Camp Memorial Trophy following his 1961 season at Syracuse University.