NFL Superstar Murdered by the CIA?

After recently having some discussions about sports trivia and politics with a few individuals, I developed a theory, did some research, and decided to write this thread. This will be an ATS Exclusive:

Was a NFL Superstar Murdered by the CIA?


Ok so here's the story:
Ernie Davis was the first black man (an American of African descent) to win the Heisman Trophy in 1961. This was a ground breaking event in terms of racial integration and recognition of black men in US media and culture, and especially in sports.

Davis played college football for Syracuse University and was the first pick in the 1962 NFL Draft. Selected by the Washington Redskins of the National Football League (NFL) in December 1961, he was then almost immediately traded to the Cleveland Browns and issued number 45.

Davis was diagnosed with leukemia in the summer of 1962,[4][5] and died less than a year later at age 23, without ever playing in a professional game.[3]

Today, Jim Brown is considered the greatest running back of all time - along with (but often ahead of, according to the majority of football historians) the likes of Walter Payton, Barry Sanders, Emmit Smith, etc.

But here's the deal, Ernie Davis played at Syracuse after Jim Brown and broke Jim's records. Ernie was breaking all sorts of records all over the place, and many people anticipated that he would possibly become the greatest running back of all time - and some historians today still believe that he would have eclipsed Jim Brown.

However he died tragically less than a year after being the #1 Draft Pick in the 1962 season of a sudden onset of Acute Monocytic Leukemia which is a type of Acute Myeloid Leukemia.

It came out of nowhere and became fatal with blinding speed. Ernie was not only a healthy individual, he was one of the prime athletic specimens in all of modern history, consider by many to be an even better running back than Jim Brown (considered the best of all time in many greatest lists).

So here we have one of the ultimate athletes in history dying of a rare blood cancer right on the cusp of making history. This was in the early days of the Civil Rights movement of the late 1950s to the late 1960s which focused heavily on establishing valid protections for the Civil Rights of Americans of African heritage (black peoples).

Ernie Davis represented the fact that black people were not only deserving of a place in American sports, but, along with the likes of Jim Brown who preceded him, were in fact dominant forces to be reckoned with that could excel and establish themselves as champions.

Ernie got to meet JFK and shake his hand as the president was fascinated with his football accolades. We are talking 1961-62 era political climate.

This was the exact era in time where the CIA was assassinating anyone that created an upheaval in political matters - and you bet your rear that NFL football is a political issue and a major interest for the government. Just look at the recent fiasco in the NFL over the national anthem and taking a knee - it created major ripples in our political climate. The NFL is at the core of American Culture for many reasons.

And after I found out about Ernie Davis and how he was probably going to set the stage as the greatest ball player of all time, and about how he died suddenly of a very terrible disease while considering the political context and it's implications - my suspicion alarm went wild. I wondered, could the CIA (or similar entity) killed Ernie? Was there a valid motive?

Consider the facts.
Leukemia of this type, acute monocytic/myloid, can be caused superficially in several ways. You can be murdered this way and it's not that difficult to poison someone into developing it. The development of the disease can be very quick and fatal, and there are other people who were suspected to have been assassinated in this method (during the same era and for similar political reasons, which I'll talk about shortly).

Check the wiki on myloid Leukemia - under the risks section - it explains that chemical or ionizing radiation exposure can lead to development of this blood cancer, and like with Ernie Davis, this cancer can kill incredibly quickly. You can die within mere months. Less than 1 year from recognizing the first symptoms.

Ernie died of his disease in 1962.
Martin Luther King Jr. won the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize right after this, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 occurred at that same time.
JFK was assassinated in Nov. of 1963.
The Voting Rights Act was in 65, and the Fair Housing Act was in 68.
MLK Jr was assassinated in 68.
Malcolm X (Little) was assassinated in 65 as the Black Power movement emerged.

The CIA sponsered the Bay of Pigs Invasion of Cuba in 1961, and it has been well documented that they sought to assassinate Fidel Castro and even tried several times yet failed.

I also want to bring up this individual, Frantz Fanon

a French psychiatrist, philosopher, revolutionary, and writer whose works are influential in the fields of post-colonial studies, critical theory, and Marxism.[1] As an intellectual, Fanon was a political radical, Pan-Africanist, and Marxist humanist concerned with the psychopathology of colonization,[2] and the human, social, and cultural consequences of decolonization.[3][4][5]

In the course of his work as a physician and psychiatrist, Fanon supported the Algerian War of Independence from France, and was a member of the Algerian National Liberation Front. For more than five decades, the life and works of Frantz Fanon have inspired national liberation movements and other radical political organizations in Palestine, Sri Lanka, South Africa, and the United States.

So in other words, he was a black identity separatist that wanted to liberate Algeria from colonial power and chart a self-determinist course (promoting Marxism/Socialist concepts to that end). He was well educated and very outspoken and active in politics, and he caused a LOT of problems for the powers that be.

So Frantz Fanon was suddenly diagnosed with Leukemia ok? He then went to the USSR for treatment and then came back to Rome, but then what?

In 1961, the CIA arranged a trip to the U.S. for further leukemia treatment at a National Institutes of Health facility.[18] Fanon died in Bethesda, Maryland, on 6 December 1961, under the name of "Ibrahim Fanon"

Then the CIA brought him to the USA for treatment and he then died shortly thereafter. A major problem that was causing major headaches for colonialists worldwide was finally gone.

Even the last Shah of Iran, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi died of Waldenstrom which is an extremely rare form of Leukemia, and he has quite a few links to the CIA.

There are just a lot of "coincidences" with the CIA, major political upheavals, and people dying of Leukemia all at the same time. The list goes on, but I'll try to keep this short.

Here is a good article about how Art Model, the owner of the Browns, treated Ernie Davis and his mother, even paying their bills after his death, which I think gives a good perspective of what happened between the two.

Here is an article discussing how the CIA uses cancer as a weapon for assassinations, though not all claims seem 100% legitimate, as much is speculative, there is some solid accusations peppered throughout the piece:
GlobalResearch link

For instance it talks about Jack Ruby, the assassin of Lee Harvey Oswald who assassinated JFK:

(died of a stroke due to an undiagnosed form of aggressive cancer, just weeks after he agreed to testify before Congress about the JFK assassination)

So again it's a lot of coincidental deaths with cancer and major CIA involvement everywhere.

This is a great conspiracy theory and sadly I'm out of time, I'll get back on here later.
Hope everyone enjoyed it - I broke it here at ATS and this was an exclusive you won't find anywhere else!

Bill Russell. Hank Aaron. Jim Brown. Muhammed Ali, who was sort of mildly involved in civil rights issues.

Just a few of the big name black athletes in the same era that were also making waves and didn't die in the process.

Interesting theory though.

a reply to: muzzleflash

I thought it was just me who thought African Americans get Leukemia at higher rates that Caucasian...

Hmmm... wondering if there's a Jim Brown/Jim Crowe connection here???

Touching to see that Art Modell really cared about Ernie and tried to help him. That redeems him (Modell) in my eyes as most of Ohio despised him when he moved the Browns to Baltimore. In hindsight, not sure why we ever brought them back.

Very intriguing story OP. At this point in time, it wouldn't surprise me if the see eye ayyy invented cancer in the first place

a reply to: muzzleflash

There are lab supply places, lists of chems that research labs that deal with cancer and the like, one could find some online, with information of which toxins induce which types of cancers (generally in lab critters I presume) that one could potentially figure out what toxins that could / would do that in knowledge / use in those days.

I dont know any suppliers, chems by memory, but I've read a ton of scholarly cancer papers over the years and sometimes they have the actual specific procedure they went about dosing the rats with how much for how many days to induce what type of cancer to then test the potential remedy for it, kind of stuff.

As I type this I imagine droves of rats being injected with etc for what not...

originally posted by: Shamrock6
Bill Russell. Hank Aaron. Jim Brown. Muhammed Ali, who was sort of mildly involved in civil rights issues.

Just a few of the big name black athletes in the same era that were also making waves and didn't die in the process.

Interesting theory though.

Just to play Devil's Advocate here -

What if there is a system of secret societies that require an oath and the ones that went untouched agreed to a particular requirement?

Like what if they agreed to not do something or not say something - or alternatively, to do and say certain things to advance a political agenda in specific way?

And what if Ernie refused?

originally posted by: ttobban
a reply to: muzzleflash

I thought it was just me who thought African Americans get Leukemia at higher rates that Caucasian...

Hmmm... wondering if there's a Jim Brown/Jim Crowe connection here???

Jim Crow was a caricature of the typical black slave on a plantation. A fictional character which developed into a pejorative term. So people would insult or deride black sharecroppers by calling them "Jim Crow".

Essentially they'd depict a Scarecrow jumping around in a field - the jumping referencing dancing.

By the way, did you know that some so called Jim Crow laws were designed to trap sharecroppers?

Like for instance, by law, they might be prohibited from selling their crop to anyone except the landowners.

Or they could be prohibited from leaving the farm until they paid off their loan to the landowner.

Here's a wiki
Jim Crow

originally posted by: megabogie
Touching to see that Art Modell really cared about Ernie and tried to help him. That redeems him (Modell) in my eyes as most of Ohio despised him when he moved the Browns to Baltimore. In hindsight, not sure why we ever brought them back.

Very intriguing story OP. At this point in time, it wouldn't surprise me if the see eye ayyy invented cancer in the first place

Yes, I included the Art Modell bit because it was corroborated by John Brown (Ernies roommate and fellow Syracuse player, a tackle I believe).

I thought well of it and saw fit to plug his good deeds towards Ernie's mother especially.

originally posted by: ttobban
a reply to: muzzleflash

I thought it was just me who thought African Americans get Leukemia at higher rates that Caucasian...

Hmmm... wondering if there's a Jim Brown/Jim Crowe connection here???

I thought it was strange that Walter Payton contracted liver cancer out of the blue.

O.J. Simpson must have "fit in" with whatever the establishment wanted. He's still alive.

What about Jim Brown?

originally posted by: megabogie

Very intriguing story OP. At this point in time, it wouldn't surprise me if the see eye ayyy invented cancer in the first place

Well cancer is a malfunction of a cell that basically keeps it from dying - apoptosis being the cell death function.

The avoidance of programmed cell death is 1 of the 6 hallmarks of cancer.

It is in general terms, a continuous growth and division of cells. Which is devastating.

Here is an interesting fact to consider:

Between 50 and 70 billion cells die each day due to apoptosis in the average human adult.

This process of cell death is essential to maintaining healthy bodily functions.

So it is a natural, albeit unintended process in all living multicellular organisms.

The CIA, or any similar nefarious entity, can cause cancer via exposing the intended victim to any assortment of poisons, from chemical substances to ionizing radiation.

After all these years, the CIA should have a way to deliver quick/terminal cancer to Kim Jong, of North Korea.

originally posted by: carewemust

originally posted by: ttobban
a reply to: muzzleflash

I thought it was just me who thought African Americans get Leukemia at higher rates that Caucasian...

Hmmm... wondering if there's a Jim Brown/Jim Crowe connection here???

I thought it was strange that Walter Payton contracted liver cancer out of the blue.

O.J. Simpson must have "fit in" with whatever the establishment wanted. He's still alive.

What about Jim Brown?

I didn't know about Payton having liver cancer. Hepatitis and alcoholism are probably the most likely causes though, as the list of the main known causes are (for liver cancers) :

Cirrhosis due to hepatitis B, hepatitis C, or alcohol, aflatoxin, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, liver flukes

originally posted by: muzzleflash

originally posted by: carewemust

originally posted by: ttobban
a reply to: muzzleflash

I thought it was just me who thought African Americans get Leukemia at higher rates that Caucasian...

Hmmm... wondering if there's a Jim Brown/Jim Crowe connection here???

I thought it was strange that Walter Payton contracted liver cancer out of the blue.

O.J. Simpson must have "fit in" with whatever the establishment wanted. He's still alive.

What about Jim Brown?

I didn't know about Payton having liver cancer. Hepatitis and alcoholism are probably the most likely causes though, as the list of the main known causes are (for liver cancers) :

Cirrhosis due to hepatitis B, hepatitis C, or alcohol, aflatoxin, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, liver flukes

Could be. He did buy a night-club after retiring and shot the place up a few times. But as a hero, the local media around here didn't go into much detail. The few times we talked, he was always sober and working out hard.

a reply to: IgnoranceIsntBlisss

Yes it would have been surprisingly easy for a well connected killer to obtain any one of an assortment of highly carcinogenic chemical substances from either laboratories or factories and then to have slipped small amounts into their victim's food or drink.

It could also have been injected directly during medical exams.

As for a radiological source, in order to limit exposure to the victim primarily, you could put it inside their bed mattress or something like this.

a reply to: carewemust

Hmmm I wasn't aware of that.

That's cool you got to meet him, very cool!

Thanks for the info, I'll read up on his biography a bit later.

originally posted by: carewemust
After all these years, the CIA should have a way to deliver quick/terminal cancer to Kim Jong, of North Korea.

Maybe they don't want to?

Kim Jong is an incredibly useful asset afterall, he's a great distraction from our domestic stories that might need to be swept under the rug - and he keeps the military industrial complex in business by ensuring a steady flow of tax paid funding.

If you guys/gals liked this type of original all-new all-different content let me know and I'll make more. I've got a hundred great ideas that I might start posting.

As far as I can tell by searching the Net, this might be the first Ernie Davis conspiracy theory ever posted. If I'm on the right path here hopefully I brought a little justice to his Spirit.

If I'm wrong, no harm done. The CIA has thick skin, and with their sordid history I'm sure they'll understand the mistake, lol.

Also what I really enjoy the most is taking an opportunity to share interesting historical information and challenge other readers to apply critical thinking skills while conducting research.

I want you folks to ask questions.
Question everything deeply.
Then seek answers, investigate your world.

I really hope I piqued y'alls interest with this and that every reader learned at least 1 new thing.

You guys often lament "where is the old ATS?", well I want to deliver that.

One of the reasons the "old ATS" isn't prevalent is because many of you might say "but I've heard it all already".

So therefore I took that "Old ATS" style and applied it to the "All-New All-Different" approach.

But the bottom line here is readership and participation, so flag it. Share it.

Convince me (and other readers) that you do want that "Old ATS" back, and I, hopefully along with other inspired individuals, will become excited by the prospects and will tap into that demand by producing something new, different, interesting, educational - and best of all - not about current Trump Hillary politics. Hahah