How would you characterize the relationship between Coach Schwartzwalder and Ernie Davis?
Dennis Quaid: Ben Schwartzwalder was a tough-as-nails old-school coach. We’re talking about 1959. Ernie was a very graceful human being, naïve in a lot of ways, I think. It’s set during a time of racial turmoil, before the Civil Rights movement really kicked in. Their relationship embodies the movie. Ben was a man of his times. You would label him a bigot, even though he was a groundbreaker as far as being one of the first coaches to actively recruit African-Americans players to his team. But he was a man of his time. So he lived by the rules of segregation, and in a way didn’t care to change things. I think Ernie changed him, not in an argumentative way. I think just in who Ernie was and the way he grew to love Ernie. Ben had had Jim Brown [as his running back] before that, and they butted heads. It was a very abrasive relationship. Ernie and Ben wound up really becoming father and son. AVC: You’re talking about Jim Brown and their relationship being abrasive. But the film implies tha
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