CARDS: Upper Deck Legends 1997, Upper Deck College Legends 2011, Panini HoF 2010, Action Packed Whizzer White Award 1991
ACQUIRED: TTM 2020, C/o Home
SENT: 6/6/20 RECEIVED: 6/18/20 (12 days)
CAREER SNAPSHOT:
- Floyd Little played at Syracuse where from 1964 to 1966, he ran for 2,704 yards and 46 TDs.
- He’d be the 6th overall pick in the 1967 NFL/AFL Draft of the Denver Broncos.
- In his first two years in the AFL, Floyd led the league in All-Purpose Yards, with 1626 in 1967 and 1,825 in 1968.
- He led the league in yards per game in both 1969 (81.0) and 1971 (80.9).
- His best season arguably came in 1971 when Floyd had a career high and league leading 284 carries, 310 touches, 1,133 yards, and 1,388 yards from scrimmage.
- Little’s 1,113 rushing yards were the first time a member of the team had broken the 1k rushing barrier.
- Floyd led the NFL in TDs in 1973 with 12 TDs.
- After starting 105 games, Floyd hung up his cleats in 1976.
- A Syracuse great, he returned to the school in 2011 as a special assistant to the athletic director- a position he held until 2016 when he retired to Las Vegas.
ACCOLADES:
- Pro Football Hall of Fame 2010
- College Football Hall of Fame
- Broncos Ring of Fame 1984
- Hall of Very Good 2005
- All Pro 1969
- Pro Bowl 1968-’71, ’73
- Denver Broncos #44 retired
- Syracuse Orange #44 retired
NOTES:
Here’s a great example of how trading cards educate us about football history. I wouldn’t have really stumbled onto Floyd if I hadn’t collected the Action Packed Whizzer White set. So I chased a rabbit down the hole learning all I could about him, and then decided to go ahead donate some money to his cancer treatments and ask for his autograph on a few cards. He signed the three I included lightning fast, and included the HoF Panini card as a thank-you.
Floyd is nicknamed ‘The Franchise’ because he was instrumental in the Broncos staying in Denver. The team struggled badly in its initial years and Little helped put the team on the map by signing with them. He also helped champion the building of Mile High Stadium through his Herculaneum efforts every week for the team.
| RUSH | YDS | AVG | TD | LG |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1641 | 6323 | 3.9 | 43 | 80t |
| REC | YDS | AVG | TD | LG |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 215 | 2418 | 11.2 | 9 | 74 |
| KR | YDS | AVG | TD | LG |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 81 | 893 | 11.0 | 2 | 81t |
| REC | YDS | AVG | TD | LG |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 104 | 2523 | 24.3 | 0 | 89 |
EPITAPH:
1/2/2021- Floyd Little’s family announced that he had passed away from cancer after a years’ long battle with the disease, at his home in Las Vegas with them by his side. He was 78.