more than sports in roles
Quaid plays it serious
By Phil Villarreal
Pvillarreal@azstarnet.com
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 10.09.2008
Dennis Quaid has a secret about making good sports movies. He makes sure they're not sports movies.
"I've done probably six of them that I think directly could be called sports films and fit the criteria. For me, they have got to be about more than the sport," said Quaid, 54, in a recent phone interview from Phoenix.
Quaid was in Phoenix on a tour to promote "The Express," a film about Syracuse tailback Ernie Davis, the first black football player to win the Heisman Trophy.
"What 'The Rookie,' a baseball movie, was really about was second chances in life. Getting a second chance is something everybody can relate to in life. 'The Express,' yes, is a football movie, but it deals with segregation and racism, the way it used to be."
Quaid said "The Express" has some spiritual undertones as well.
"At its core it's about living your life with grace. If God bestows grace upon you, that you should live your life to its full effect," Quaid said. "You know, Ernie Davis embodied that in his short life. He touched everybody around him."
Congenial and thoughtful, Quaid was in a reflective mood. The Houston native said "The Express" hit home for him because he has childhood memories of segregated Texas, where Syracuse played for the national championship in the 1960 Cotton Bowl.
Fans in Dallas jeered Davis, who despite being named the MVP was not allowed to celebrate at the country club banquet after the game.
"I'm from Texas and very proud of my Texas heritage, as well," Quaid said. "It wasn't just Texas. It was really all over, the segregation that existed back then. Barriers were put up for African-Americans and other people of color back then. It was certainly more overt in the South.
"I grew up in Houston and remember in the 1950s, restrooms and drinking fountains and separate seating for black people. They had to sit in the balcony at theaters. That was the way it was. (In the film) we certainly tried to approach the subject honestly. It speaks to how far things have come."
Quaid said the political climate makes the Ernie Davis story more poignant.
"I think he's a remarkable person whose story had been untold. It's the perfect time to tell it, it turns out," Quaid said. "It was not intentional. Look, an African-American is running for president and he's brought up the dialogue (of race) on the front burner. That wasn't the case when we were making the film. Back a year and a half ago, Barack Obama was just one in the back of the pack.
Quaid's role, as Syracuse coach Ben Schwartzwalder, was more complicated than that of the saintly Davis, played by Rob Brown.
Schwartzwalder was instrumental in the development of Davis and also NFL Hall of Famer Jim Brown, who preceded Davis at Syracuse (both backs wore No. 44). The coach saw the integration of his teams as a necessary difficulty to stay competitive. He also banned black players from dating white women.
"Schwartzwalder, in today's standards, might be termed a racist. But so would, I think, most white Americans back in that time, in that era," Quaid said.
"Schwartzwalder was a man of his times. He was a ground-breaker in the sense that he was one of the first coaches to actively recruit African-American players to his team. At the same time, he went along with the rules of segregation as they were. In a sense, he really didn't recruit black players out of any ideological reason or to break any barriers."
Quaid, who befriended Jim Brown while filming "Any Given Sunday" (1999), leaned on the football great for inside information about Schwartzwalder.
"He was my main resource. He's a straight talker and we talked at length about Ben and his relationship with Ben, and also Ernie."
Quaid said that Brown told him his perspective of Schwartzwalder has changed over the years, and that he respects him more.
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