A new sporty fairytale has just hit the theaters: Universal Picture’s “Express,” a story about the unfortunately short life of Ernie Davis, the legendary American football running back who changed history in the ‘60s.

Based on the non-fiction book “Ernie Davis: The Elmira Express,” by Robert C. Gallagher, the movie may look like a cliché and much like all those other sports flicks out-there, but when you come to think about it, most of it is true. Actually, all of it is true, but a little Hollywood magic had to happen, so there are some generic characters and some carefully directed scenes, as well beautiful performances from the actors.

Ernie is played by young Rob Brown (“Finding Forrester,” “Coach Carter”) especially convincing on the field, rather than off it, as if football has become a whole different language. But the most surprisingly touching performance comes from Dennis Quaid, in the role of Syracuse University coach Ben Schwartzwalder.

All in all, the movie is just a simple story about a simple boy who managed to be the first African-American athlete to win the Heisman Trophy, awarded annually by the Downtown Athletic Club of New York City to the most outstanding player in collegiate football.

Davis was especially good with sports, ever since he was a little boy and he has won several awards while playing for his high school team in Elmira, New York. He was named “Elmira Player of the Year” and high school “All-American” in both his junior and senior years, all this while being a really good student as well. Over 50 universities from across the country offered him scholarships, although most of them were not officially offering them to black young athletes.

Davis finally chose Syracuse University, and went on to gain national fame for three seasons, twice winning first-team All-American honors. It was then when Star-Gazette sports writer Al Mallette came up with the famous nickname for Davis, the "Elmira Express". Davis was voted Most Valuable Player of the 1960 Cotton Bowl and the 1961 Liberty Bowl. After college he was drafted by Washington Redskins, then almost immediately traded to the Cleveland Browns, but he never got to play a professional game, as he was soon diagnosed with acute monocytic leukemia and began receiving medical treatment.

Earnie Davis died when he was only 23 and was on the verge of becoming a football star, as the unforgiving disease proved to be fatal.  Some forty years later, in a totally separate event, a Harlem born, Brooklin raised acting revelation Rob Brown, as promising actor as Davis was a football player, is named the official spokesman of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's “Light the Night Walk,” a program that raises awareness in the general public.