 Little was at a crossroads faced by many fine
athletes from poor backgrounds. Some simply give up and return to the ghetto permanently.
Others find a way to make their physical talents work for them and lift them out of the
cycle of poverty and ignorance. With the help of his Hillhouse coach, Dan Casey, Little
found a way out. Casey wrote a letter about Floyd to Notre Dame. The Irish football staff
was so impressed with Little's potential that they suggested he attend a prep school - at
their expense - to raise his marks to an acceptable college level.
 So
Little went to Bordentown Prep, a military school in New Jersey. It was a turning point in
his life. There he gained confidence and maturity. "Before, I never wanted to leave
home," he recalled, "but then at Bordentown it seemed I never got home at all.
My family started calling me 'Big Shot.'
At Bordentown,
Little was put in charge of a platoon and elected captain of the football, basketball, and
track teams. More important, his grades improved so much that 46 schools besides Notre
Dame tried to enroll him.
Syracuse football
coach Ben Schwartzwalder was especially eager to get Little. "There's a kid from New
Haven I'd love to get," Schwartzwalder told a friend in January 1963. "He's so
smooth that when he walks in the snow he doesn't leave footprints. But I'm afraid we're
going to lose him to Notre Dame."
 Schwartzwalder wasn't
about to give up without a fight, though. He came up with a plan that involved Ernie
Davis, a brilliant Syracuse running star whose background was similar to Little's. Davis
was the second in what became a string of Syracuse All-America runners (Jim Nance and
Larry Csonka followed), all of whom wore jersey number 44. The legendary Jim Brown, who
later collected most of pro football's all-time running records as a Cleveland Brown, had
been the first. The coach thought Davis might convince Little to be the third man to wear
number 44 at Syracuse.
"Ernie was
always my idol," said Little. " A lot of people thought that Jim Brown
influenced me into going to Syracuse. But Brown was of a different era. He didn't mean
that much to me. When I visited Syracuse in late fall of '62 I saw films of Ernie. But
when I met him I was even more impressed. It wasn't just his being an athlete. It was his
whole character."
Floyd certainly
wanted to go to Syracuse. But he had a strong sense of responsibility, and he had always
believed that Notre Dame had financed his education at Bordentown. Therefore, he felt
obligated to go there. Late that spring, however, the dean of students at Bordentown
assured him that the academy itself had paid his expenses. "From that moment
on," said Little, "I felt independent."
A few days later,
Little recalled, "I was working out on a field near Bordentown. This kid comes up,
drinking a Coke. He said, 'You hear about Ernie Davis? He died.' I thought the kid was
making a terrible joke. I got mad. I was gonna hit him. My dad died of cancer when I was
six, but I really had no knowledge of leukemia. I saw Ernie at Christmas and he was as
healthy as I was. But the kid convinced me it was true. I sat down and got sick. Right
then I knew I was going to Syracuse." |
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· Floyd Little ·