Willie Davis

CTL-E-7056 · Person · other · 1934–2020

VERIFIED evidence grade — build store (JSON graph)

Combined Graph record U-07928 · provenance: build store (JSON graph), record CTL-E-7056.

William Delford Davis, born July 24, 1934, in Lisbon, Louisiana, and deceased April 15, 2020, at age eighty-five, played at Grambling under Eddie Robinson before a twelve-season NFL career with Cleveland and Green Bay. The Packers' history records that Davis, acquired from Cleveland in 1960, never missed a game in ten years with Green Bay, played 138 games for the club, and was named by Vince Lombardi the first African-American captain in Packers history, serving as permanent defensive captain from 1965 through 1969. A defensive end on Lombardi's championship teams, including the winners of Super Bowls I and II, he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1981; the Encyclopedia of Arkansas records that he was the first Grambling alumnus so inducted. After football he built a major business career and was named Walter Camp Man of the Year in 1986.

The record

• Also known as: William Delford Davis, Willie Delford Davis

Notes

Sports Encyclopedia roster CTL-SPE-0437. Firsts disposition: first African-American captain in Packers history — carried as the Packers' own history states it; first Grambling alumnus inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame — carried as the Encyclopedia of Arkansas states it. Identity caution: this is the Grambling/Packers defensive end, NOT the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball outfielder of the same name; the baseball Willie Davis Commons files were rejected on that basis. Curator's Judgment (DRAFT): Davis anchored Lombardi's defense for a decade without missing a game and then repeated the achievement in business — durability and leadership are the through-line. Photo: CLEARED, Public domain, Jeno's Pizza card image of the Packers defensive lineman, file description links to Willie Davis (defensive end); the baseball Willie Davis files in the same search were excluded.

Referenced by

• Grambling State University — has alumnus → this record

Sources

• Green Bay Packers. "Willie Davis — Packers Hall of Fame history." Packers.com. Accessed 2026-11-03. (primary source · build store)
• Encyclopedia of Arkansas. "William Delford (Willie) Davis (1934–2020)." EncyclopediaOfArkansas.net. Accessed 2026-11-03. (build store)

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Record CTL-E-7056 · Combined Graph record U-07928 · CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph · 2 sources · 1 mapped relationship.
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Researched and maintained by the CultureTechLens research program · CultureTechLens Combined Graph, Release 2026-11-04. Corrections are public: the corrections log.

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