R.I.P. Floyd Little

Called "The Franchise" in Denver. The Broncos had never successfully signed a first-round pick before Little, and the club was constantly in peril of moving. Little, their first pick in the initial "common draft," changed all that. Support swelled. Their minor-league baseball stadium was renovated and expanded to become "Mile High Stadium." The Broncos have had better players, but arguably none were more important.

 

One of the stars of the AFL's glory seasons. Bowlegged and incredibly tough to tackle.

Did not know Gen. Douglas MacArthur himself tried to get Little to attend Army. He went to Syracuse on the recommendation of Ernie Davis. Later went to law school.

RIP, Floyd.

 

Have a lot of great little stories. He was a New York kid and had no idea about Denver when he was drafted. He thought the Jets were going to take him. Lou Saban called him him with the news. He was nonplussed, and said something about having to take a Conestoga wagon to the old west. Though, they flew him in and Little said his mind immediately changed. He fell in love with Denver from the air. Spent the first few off seasons driving around Colorado, Nebraska, Utah and Montana are encouraging people to root for the Broncos.

I swear there was one of the old NFL Films bios on him where they said he took a personality test and said he was best suited to be a serial killer. He answered, “who says I’m not.”

 

There is no more honorable athletic occupation IMO than being a legitimate star player on a bad football team. Takes such perseverance and courage.

 

Supposedly Bobby Higginson (career OPS+ of 113) never played on a .500 team in high school, college or with the Tigers. That's truly incredibly awful circumstances.

 

I moved to Denver in January, 1968. Little was the first star of the Broncos and therefore Denver, far eclipsing any Denver Rocket. Only John Elway and Peyton Manning stand above him in the Bronco pantheon. He tried law school and then went to work in the automotive industry. There was a Floyd Little Mercury dealership in Denver for a while that closed (I remember it as located in a deteriorating neighborhood).

But after that he moved out of Denver, as far as I know permanently. For many years he owned Mercury dealerships in SoCal and then Seattle. He was quoted as saying that he did not want to live in Denver because of the attention he received. Which is so different from all the famous athletes who hang around trying to claim glory as along as they can.