Syracuse (WSYR-TV) - One of football's all-time great players, a Syracuse legend, is coming back to help the university that helped launch his illustrious career. Floyd Little was named the Special Assistant to Athletic Director Daryl Gross Thursday.
Little calls it his dream job. Surrounded by other SU legends at the announcement Thursday, he said it was like coming back home. His new role elevates his unofficial status as an ambassador for the University to a full-time job.
"It's surreal for me to be a part of Syracuse University," Little said. "Who would have thought when I came here in 1963 who would have thought I would be coming back in a role as a Special Assistant to the Athletic Director. Oh, this is great."
Little is also one of just 158 living members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He was elected to that elite fraternity last year.
Like many other members of the Hall of Fame, Little has to live with a legacy of concussions. He had five reported during his career. "I think sometimes not remembering where you put things, stumbling from time to time, going into the bathroom and not remembering what you went in there for," he said.
Little considers himself lucky, especially compared to a lot of former pro football players. "One of my good friends who struggles and now he's in a nursing home, because he's no longer capable of knowing who he is or what he is," Little said of another SU alumnus and Hall of Fame player, John Mackey. "I was with him here when we retired his number and it wasn't the same John Mackey that I knew."
Little says it's not noticeable to his wife, a Henninger graduate, but he knows he's not the same person he used to be because of the concussions. "They come into play everyday," he said. "When you focus on some things you can concentrate a little bit better."
Happily, he has plenty to concentrate on now with a new full-time job.
