As an African-American playing a lot of college football in the South, Davis faced racism on several occasions. One such instance was after 1960 Cotton Bowl in 1960. Syracuse had defeated Texas 23-14, and Davis had an amazing game and earned MVP honors. Davis was told that he would be allowed to accept the award at the post-game banquet, but that he and other black teammates would have to leave the segregated facility shortly after. The whole team wanted to leave and boycott the event, but Syracuse officials made the rest of the team stay in order to not cause a scene.