Don McPherson

McPherson, speaking at a pep rally for the Syracuse Orange, at the 2009 New York State Fair.
Quarterback
Personal information
Date of birth: (1965-04-02) April 2, 1965 (age 47)
Place of birth: Brooklyn, New York
Career information
College: Syracuse
NFL Draft: 1988 / Round: 6 / Pick: 149
No regular season or postseason appearances
Career history
Philadelphia Eagles (1988-1989) Houston Oilers (1990) Hamilton Tiger-Cats (1991-1993) Ottawa Rough-Riders (1994)
Career highlights and awards
Davey O'Brien Award (1987)
College Football Hall of Fame

Donald G. McPherson (born April 2, 1965) is a former National Football League and Canadian Football League quarterback who was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in 1988 after a college career at Syracuse University during which he won the Maxwell Award, the Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award and finished second in the 1987 Heisman Trophy voting. He also played for the Houston Oilers, Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Ottawa Rough-Riders. His accomplishments during his tenure at Syracuse propelled him to be inducted into the NCAA College Football Hall of Fame announced on May 1, 2008.

After retiring from football in 1994, McPherson joined the staff of Northeastern University's Center for the Study of Sport in Society, before becoming the first executive director of the Sports Leadership Institute at Adelphi University. As a social activist he has founded several outreach and mentoring programs, and regularly speaks at college campuses as a critic of gender roles, stating that the standard constructions of masculinity and femininity both limit men's emotions and overall well-being as well as contribute to gendered violence such as domestic violence, stalking, and rape. In this capacity he has testified before hearings of the United States House of Representatives.

McPherson is currently a college football commentator for Big East football on regional sports cable network SportsNet New York.[1]

He is the younger brother of former NFL player and pastor Miles McPherson.

External links[link]

• Bio at Adelphi University
• 2004 Congressional Testimony - Transcript
• McPherson: Be a "real" real man (Rochester Democrat and Chronicle article)
• Davey O'Brien Award

This biographical article relating to Canadian football is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Ernest "Ernie" Davis (December 14, 1939 – May 18, 1963) was an American football running back and the first African-American athlete to win the Heisman Trophy. Wearing number 44, Davis competed collegiately for Syracuse University before being drafted by the Washington Redskins, then almost immediately traded to the Cleveland Browns in December 1961. However, he would never play a professional game, as he was diagnosed with leukemia in 1962. He is the subject of the 2008 Universal Pictures movie biography The Express, based on the non-fiction book Ernie Davis: The Elmira Express, by Robert C. Gallagher.

College career[link]

Davis played football for Syracuse University, and went on to gain national fame for three seasons (1959–1961), twice winning first-team All-American honors. As a sophomore in 1959, Davis led Syracuse to the NCAA Division I-A national football championship, capping an undefeated season with a 23-14 win over The University of Texas in the Cotton Bowl Classic. That same year, Elmira Star-Gazette sports writer Al Mallette coined the nickname for Davis, the "Elmira Express". Davis was voted Most Valuable Player of the 1960 Cotton Bowl Classic and the 1961 Liberty Bowl. In his junior year, he set a record of 7.8 yards per carry and was the third leading rusher in the country with 877 yards, having rushed 100 yards in 6 of 9 games.

Davis found discrimination prevalent in the American South during his Cotton Bowl Classic visit. 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. Davis refused and his teammates, nearly all of them white, voted to boycott the banquet.^[1]

A different account of the banquet is given by John Brown. He was Davis' teammate at Syracuse and on the Cleveland Browns, his roommate and a close friend. According to an article in the Houston Chronicle, all the players from the game attended the banquet. Brown recalls that the teams sat on opposite sides of the room. After everyone ate and the trophies were handed out, the three black Syracuse players, including Brown and Davis were asked to leave and were taken to another party in Dallas by local NAACP representatives. One Syracuse player, Ger Schwedes, recommended that the whole Syracuse team leave the banquet to show solidarity with their black teammates, but the suggestion was overruled by Syracuse officials. When the Chronicle asked Brown whether the film is a truthful portrayal of his friend, Brown said " ... in short, no."^[2]

Davis became the first black athlete to be awarded the Heisman Trophy (the highest individual honor in collegiate football), following his 1961 senior-year season at Syracuse University. President John F. Kennedy had followed Davis' career and requested to meet him while he was in New York to receive the trophy.^[3] Later in 1963, when Elmira chose February 3 to celebrate Davis' achievements, Kennedy sent a telegram, reading:

During his time at Syracuse, Davis wore the same number, 44, as legendary Orangeman Jim Brown, helping to establish a tradition at the school that was acknowledged on November 12, 2005, when the school retired the number in an on-field ceremony. Davis also played basketball at Syracuse for one season 1960-1961. Syracuse University, as a way to honor all of the athletes that have worn the number 44, was granted permission by the United States Postal Service to change its zip code to 13244.

While attending Syracuse, Davis was a member of the Sigma Alpha Mu Fraternity, a nationally recognized Jewish fraternity. Davis was the first African-American to become part of the organization not only at the Syracuse chapter, but for the national fraternity as a whole.^[5]

Davis was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1979.

Ernie Davis was a member of The Pigskin Club of Washington, D.C. National Intercollegiate All-American Football Players Honor Roll.

Pro football career[link]

Davis was the number-one pick in the 1962 NFL Draft, becoming the first African American football player to be taken first overall. Selected by the Washington Redskins,^[6] his rights were then traded to the Cleveland Browns for Bobby Mitchell and a first-round draft choice.^[7] He was also drafted by the Buffalo Bills of the American Football League.^[8]

The decision of the Redskins to draft Davis was a reluctant one by Redskins' owner George Preston Marshall. Marshall for years, had refused to sign any black players, and the Redskins were the last NFL team to do so. He was known to be notoriously racist, and backed his decision by stating that he wanted to appeal to the NFL's southern market. The signing only came when Interior Secretary Stewart Udall issued an ultimatum to Marshall - Sign a black player, or the Redskins' 30-year lease on the D.C. Stadium (now the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium) would be revoked. The D.C. Stadium was property of the Washington city government and was funded just the same. Marshall's response was then the selection of Davis. Davis himself refused to play for the Redskins, and demanded a trade. "I won't play for that S.O.B." He was quoted as saying. Thus the trade to Cleveland was engineered by Paul Brown shortly after Art Modell had purchased the team and without the knowledge or consent of Modell. This was standard operating procedure with the Browns from their inception in 1946.^[9][10]

Davis signed a three-year, $200,000 contract with the Browns in late December 1961, again without the knowledge or consent of Modell, while he (Davis) was in San Francisco, California practicing for the East-West Shrine Game.^[11] Originally reported at $80,000, the contract, according to Davis' attorney, A. William (Tony) DeFilippo, consisted of $80,000 for playing football, including a $15,000 signing bonus; $60,000 for ancillary rights, such as image marketing; and $60,000 for off-season employment.^[11] It was the most lucrative contract for an NFL rookie up to that time.^[11] However, the Browns' dream of pairing Davis with Jim Brown in the backfield took a tragic turn when Davis was diagnosed with leukemia during preparations for the 1962 College All-Star Game and also at Browns training camp. The rift between Brown and Modell worsened when Modell brought in doctors who said Davis could play pro ball but Brown refused to suit him up. This resulted in Modell firing Brown in a stealth maneuver, while all Cleveland newspapers were on strike.

Davis never played a game as a professional, with his only appearance at Cleveland Stadium coming during a 1962 pre-season game, in which he ran onto the field as a spotlight followed him. Following his death, the Browns retired his number 45 jersey.^[12]

Death[link]

In the summer of 1962, Davis was diagnosed with acute monocytic leukemia and began receiving medical treatment. The disease was incurable and he died in Cleveland Lakeside Hospital May 18, 1963, at the age of 23. Both the House and the Senate of the United States Congress eulogized Davis, and a wake was held at The Neighborhood House in Elmira, New York, where more than 10,000 mourners paid their respects. During the funeral, a message was received from President Kennedy, and was read aloud to all of the people attending the service. Davis is buried at Woodlawn Cemetery, Elmira, Chemung County, New York, in the same cemetery in which Mark Twain is buried. His commemorative statue stands in front of Ernie Davis Middle School, which Davis attended as Elmira Free Academy during his high school years. The building was named in his honor after its conversion to a middle school. Another statue of Davis stands on the campus of Syracuse University, near the steps of Hendricks Chapel and the Quad where pre-game pep rallies are held. He was elected in the Fall of 2008, coinciding with the premiere of The Express and the beginning of construction of Ernie Davis Hall, a dorm on the Syracuse campus. Syracuse later named The field at the Carrier Dome Ernie Davis Legends Field.

[edit] The Express

A motion picture biography, The Express, directed by Gary Fleder and based on the non-fiction book The Elmira Express: the Story of Ernie Davis by Robert C. Gallagher, began production in April 2007^[13] and was released on October 10, 2008. Rob Brown plays Davis, with Dennis Quaid portraying Davis' Syracuse University coach, Ben Schwartzwalder.

In 2011, the sports teams of rival schools Southside High School (Elmira, New York) and Elmira Free Academy combined and together formed the Elmira Express, named after Ernie Davis.

Footnotes[link]

References[link]

• Biography from ESPN Classic
• Biography from College Football Hall of Fame
• Ernie Davis Heisman Trophy Page

External links[link]

• Ernie Davis at the College Football Hall of Fame
• Ernie Davis at the Heisman Trophy
• Elmira Star-Gazette Ernie Davis Article Archive
• Ernie Davis at Find A Grave
• Ernie Davis profile @ OrangeHoops

Isabella Blow
Born	Isabella Delves Broughton (1958-11-19)19 November 1958 Marylebone, London, England
Died	7 May 2007(2007-05-07) (aged 48) Gloucester, England
Years active	1993–2007
Spouse	Nicholas Taylor (1981–1983) Detmar Blow (1989–2007)

Isabella Blow^[1][2] (19 November 1958 – 7 May 2007)^[3][4] was an English magazine editor. The muse^{[clarification needed]} of hat designer Philip Treacy, she is credited with discovering the models Stella Tennant and Sophie Dahl as well as the fashion designer Alexander McQueen.

Early life[link]

Born Isabella Delves Broughton in Marylebone, London, England, she was the eldest child of Major Sir Evelyn Delves Broughton, a military officer, and his second wife, Helen Mary Shore, a barrister. Sir Evelyn was the only son of Jock Delves Broughton; his sister, Rosamond, married Simon Fraser, 15th Lord Lovat in 1938.

Blow had two sisters, Julia and Lavinia, and a brother, John, who drowned in the family's swimming pool at the age of two. In 1972, when she was 14, her parents separated and her mother left the household, bidding each daughter farewell with a handshake. Her parents divorced two years later. Isabella did not get along with her father, who bequeathed her only £5,000 from his estate, which was worth more than one million pounds.^[5] Blow often said her fondest memory was trying on her mother's pink hat, a recollection that she explained led to her career in fashion.^[6]

Blow studied for her A-levels at Heathfield School, after which she enrolled at a secretarial college and then took odd jobs.^[7] As she told Tamsin Blanchard of The Observer in 2002:

I've done the most peculiar jobs. I was working in a scone shop for years, selling apricot-studded scones. I was a cleaner in London for two years. I wore a handkerchief with knots on the side, and my cousin saw me in the post office and said, What are you doing? I said, What do you think I look like I'm doing? I'm a cleaner!^[8]

Career[link]

Blow moved to New York City in 1979 to study Ancient Chinese Art at Columbia University and shared a flat with the actress Catherine Oxenberg. A year later, she left the Art History programme at Columbia, moved to Texas, and worked for Guy Laroche. In 1981, she married her first husband, Nicholas Taylor (whom she divorced in 1983), and was introduced to the fashion director of the U.S. edition of Vogue, Anna Wintour. She was hired initially as Wintour's assistant, but it was not long before she was assisting Andre Leon Talley, now U.S. Vogue's editor-at-large. While working in New York, she befriended Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat.^[9]

In 1986, Blow returned to London and worked for Michael Roberts, then the fashion director of Tatler and the Sunday Times Style magazine.^[10]

In 1989, Blow married her second husband, art dealer Detmar Hamilton Blow, in Gloucester Cathedral; he is a grandson (and namesake) of the early 20th-century society architect Detmar Blow. Philip Treacy designed the bride's wedding headdress and a now-famous fashion relationship was forged. Realizing Treacy's talent, Blow established Treacy in her London flat, where he worked on his collections. She soon began wearing Treacy's hats, making them a signature part of her flamboyant style.^[11] In a 2002 interview with Tamsin Blanchard, Blow declared that she wore extravagant hats for a practical reason:

...to keep everyone away from me. They say, Oh, can I kiss you? I say, No, thank you very much. That's why I've worn the hat. Goodbye. I don't want to be kissed by all and sundry. I want to be kissed by the people I love.^[8]

In 1993, Blow worked with the photographer Steven Meisel producing the Babes in London shoot featuring Plum Sykes, Bella Freud, and Honor Fraser. Blow had a natural sense of style and a good feeling for future fashion directions. She discovered Alexander McQueen and purchased his entire graduate collection for ₤5,000, paying it off in weekly ₤100 installments. Spotting Sophie Dahl, Blow described Dahl as "a blow up doll with brains", and launched the model's career.^[10]

Isabella Blow arrives as a guest at the Turner Prize, December 2005.

Blow was the fashion director of Tatler and consulted for DuPont Lycra, Lacoste, and Swarovski. In 2002, she became the subject of an exhibition entitled When Philip met Isabella, featuring sketches and photographs of her wearing Treacy's hat designs.^[12]

In 2004, she had a brief acting cameo in the film The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.

In 2005, Blow starred in a project by artist Matthieu Laurette, commissioned and produced by Frieze Projects 2005 and entitled "What Do They Wear at Frieze Art Fair?" It consisted of daily guided tours of Frieze Art Fair led by Blow and fellow international fashion experts Peter Saville, Kira Joliffe, and Bay Garnett.^[13]

Shortly before her death, she was the creative director and stylist of a series of books about beauty in the Arab world; the books were being produced by Kuwaiti fashion entrepreneur Sheikh Majed al-Sabah. Blow was dismissed from the project for unknown reasons and attempted suicide.^{[citation needed]}

Illness[link]

Toward the end of her life, Blow had become seriously depressed and was reportedly anguished over her inability to "find a home in a world she influenced". Daphne Guinness, a friend of Blow's stated, "She was upset that Alexander McQueen didn't take her along when he sold his brand to Gucci. Once the deals started happening, she fell by the wayside. Everybody else got contracts, and she got a free dress".^[14] According to a 2002 interview with Tamsin Blanchard, it was Blow who brokered the deal in which Gucci purchased McQueen's label.^[8]

Other pressures included money problems (Blow was disinherited by her father in 1994^[8]) and infertility. In an effort to have a child, Blow and her husband had unsuccessfully tried in vitro fertilization eight times. She later stated, "We were like a pair of exotic fruits that could not breed when placed together."^[6]

In 2004, Isabella and Detmar Blow separated. Detmar Blow went on to have an affair with Stephanie Theobald, the society editor of British Harper's Bazaar,^[15] while his estranged wife entered into a liaison with a gondolier she met in Venice. During the couple's separation, Blow was diagnosed with a bipolar disorder and began undergoing electroshock therapy. For a time, the treatments appeared to be helpful. After an eighteen month separation,^[16] Isabella and Detmar Blow were reconciled. Soon after, she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer.^[6]

Depressed over her waning celebrity status^[17] and her cancer diagnosis, Blow began telling friends that she was suicidal.^[4] In 2006, Blow attempted suicide with an overdose of sleeping pills. Later that year, Blow again attempted suicide by jumping from the Hammersmith Flyover, which resulted in her breaking both ankles.^[18]

In 2007, Blow made several more suicide attempts by driving her car into the rear of a truck, attempting to obtain horse tranquilizers, trying to drown herself in a lake and by overdosing while on a beach in India.^[18]

Death[link]

On May 6, 2007, during a weekend house party at Hilles, where the guests included Treacy and his life partner, Stefan Bartlett, Blow announced that she was going shopping. Instead, she was later discovered collapsed on a bathroom floor by her sister Lavinia and was taken to Gloucestershire Royal Hospital, where Blow told the doctor she had drunk the weedkiller Paraquat.^[19] Blow died at the hospital the following day.^[4][20]

Blow's death was initially reported as being caused by ovarian cancer;^[19][21] however, a coroner later ruled the death a suicide. At the inquest, Blow's sister, Lavinia Verney, stated that after she discovered her sister had ingested the poison, Blow had told her, "I'm worried that I haven't taken enough."^[22]

After her death, Detmar Blow confirmed that his wife suffered from depression and that she had once declared, "I'm fighting depression and I can't beat it".^[23]

Her funeral was held at Gloucester Cathedral on May 15, 2007. Her coffin, made of willow, was surmounted by one of her Philip Treacy hats instead of a floral tribute, and her pallbearers included her godson Otis Ferry, a son of the rock star Bryan Ferry. (In 2010, Bryan Ferry dedicated his Olympia album in memoriam Isabella Blow and David Williams.) Actor Rupert Everett and actress Joan Collins delivered eulogies.^[24] A memorial service was held in the Guards Chapel in London on September 18, 2007,^[25] where Anna Wintour and Geordie Greig spoke. Wintour's eulogy and part of the memorial service can be seen in DVD disc 2 of The September Issue.

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Blow, Detmar with Tom Sykes, Blow by Blow: The Story of Isabella Blow, New York, HarperCollins, 2010, ISBN 978006202087.
• Crowe, Lauren Goldstein, "Isabella Blow: A Life In Fashion", New York: Thomas Dunne Books, 2010, ISBN 978-0-312-59294-3.

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Isabella Blow

• Isabella Blow at the Internet Movie Database
• Isabella Blow at Find a Grave
• Isabella Blow, A Life In Fashion, Nov 8 2010