Floyd Little remembers a time when the words ‘future Hall of Famer’ almost always prefaced his name. He chuckled as he relayed that story, but his voice retained a hint of edginess. The memories from three decades of bitterness and disappointment do not die so quickly.

Though once considered a virtual lock for Canton, Ohio, Little, the third legendary Syracuse running back to wear the storied No. 44, quietly faded into the background. As the years passed, his certainty deteriorated into an expectation. Then a wish. Then a prayer, until not a shred of hope remained.

‘At this late stage of my life, I gave up,’ Little said during a telephone interview last week. ‘As soon as I gave up, here it is. Just last year I said I’d never get in. And now I am in this special group that includes just one-tenth of 1 percent of every professional football player. I’m in a group that can’t trade, cut or fire me.’

Thirty-five years after his retirement from the NFL, Little will finally take his place among the immortals of the football world. His election into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Feb. 6 marks the end of a journey for an iconic player who seemingly went overlooked his entire career.

Feeling slighted eventually became natural for Little. His perennially lousy Denver Broncos, constantly led by mediocre quarterbacks and a porous offensive line, finished above .500 just twice during his nine-year career.

Despite receiving little help from his team, Little retired as the seventh-leading rusher in professional football history with 6,323 yards and 43 touchdowns. The six players ahead of him all have spots in the Hall of Fame.

But for Little, the call never came.

‘Let’s be objective: I played on teams that weren’t great with quarterbacks with no consistency,’ Little said. ‘I ran behind 60 offensive linemen. None played in a Pro Bowl (sic). None are Hall of Famers. It seems clear to me that in light of that, I am a guy who must have something worth taking a look at.

‘There’s no good answers for the voters. Because I played on losing teams out in Denver, where the media wasn’t as strong as it would be on the coasts, I never had the support of the voters.’

This all begs the question: Why, after all this time, has Little returned to the forefront? What changed? After all, Little hasn’t gained another yard or scored another touchdown since 1975.

He does not know for sure. But looking back now, he looks to Syracuse and thinks he sees at least part of the answer.

Little came to SU in 1964, after Jim Brown and Ernie Davis wore No. 44, and swept the nation by storm. In three dominating All-American seasons, he rushed for 2,704 yards and 35 touchdowns. He still holds the program record for career touchdowns (46) and punt return touchdowns (six).

Even if the country forgot about Little, Syracuse never did.

John Mackey, another Hall of Famer, once famously said he would relinquish his spot in Canton to let Little in. Larry Csonka, another great SU running back, said repeatedly that he reached the Hall partially because he played for great Miami Dolphins squads, while Little put up his numbers all alone.

Little said that current SU Director of Athletics Daryl Gross even wrote letters to the Hall of Fame on his behalf.

Little also credits ‘The Express,’ the Davis biopic released last year, as arguably the greatest factor that pushed him over the edge.

The film put Syracuse football in the national spotlight, and Little believes it inspired Hall voters to give him another chance.

‘So many saw the movie and said how emotional it was for them, how it showed them the legacy of Syracuse,’ Little said. ‘A lot of voters saw the movie and thought to look at my statistics again. They saw that movie, saw the Syracuse football program on display and thought, ‘Hey, maybe we missed something.”

When Little learned of his election, he collapsed to the ground in happiness. He waited for that moment for more than three decades.

The next day, Little stood with the rest of the 2010 class on the field at Sun Life Stadium in Miami to be honored prior to the Super Bowl. The CBS telecast scanned the line. Nobody had a bigger smile on his face than Little.

Even then, in that moment of revelry, Little made sure to think about Syracuse. Without the help of Syracuse, the moment may never have come.

‘The key is the people of Syracuse have never forgotten about me,’ Little said. ‘Even with all those great running backs who came before me, they still found a way to remember me, and that has always meant so much to me.’

Jared Diamond is the sports columnist for The Daily Orange, where his column appears weekly. He can be reached at [email protected]

Published on February 14, 2010 at 12:00 pm