Pitarresi: Floyd Little should be in Hall of Fame

Floyd Little has been named a finalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Great stuff and about time, I’d say.

Little was a great college player at Syracuse and nearly as good a pro with the Denver Broncos. His stats say so in both cases, and his style says so, too. Little was an exciting player, capable of suddenly exploding into the open and going all the way. It didn’t hurt that for at least part of his career, SU wore those tear-away jersies that really did tear away, sometimes leaving defenders with a handful of thin cloth while Floyd sped his bowlegged way down the field.

Little was, well, not big – 5-feet-10, 196 pounds during his NFL days – but he played very large. He could run and catch – I’m not sure how well he blocked; I don’t really remember and I don’t know how much he was asked to – and he made plays. He was the NFL’s seventh all-time leading rusher when he retired, which says something, and he did that on a team that was a perennial also-ran or worse.

I was in high school and then my first year of college when Little was at SU, and he was a great favorite of mine. I finally got to meet him at agame maybe 10 years ago, and found him easily approachable and more than willing to share his opinions on the school, football, sports or anything at all. He still usually comes to at least one game a year, he’s still affable, and still looks like he could play, with a broad chest and a back as wide as a barn door.

So, I like Floyd anyway, but he certainly deserves to be in that Hall of Fame without any endorsement from me.