Gators linebacker David Little, who still holds the school record with 475 career tackles, prepares to stop Auburn running back James Brooks in Florida's 21-10 win at Florida Field in 1980. (File photo/UAA Communications)
Little Did More Than Escape Shadow of Big Brother
Monday, November 11, 2019 | Football, Scott Carter
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By: Scott Carter, Senior Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Senior linebacker David Reese II is approaching the end of a prolific college career. Reese leads the Gators in tackles and with 305 career stops, is making a bid to crack the program's all-time top 10.
Reese needs 30 tackles in his final three games to match the 335 of Alonzo Johnson, who is 10th on Florida's career list. As for the all-time leader, no one is likely to ever match the 475 takedowns of David Little.
"That's crazy,'' Reese said following Monday night's practice. "That must have been a ballplayer."
That fact is undisputed.
Nearly 40 years after Little played his final game for the Gators, he will be inducted posthumously into the Florida Sports Hall of Fame at a ceremony Tuesday night at Amway Arena in Orlando. Little starred for the Gators from 1977-80 and then went on to play 12 seasons for the Pittsburgh Steelers, earning All-Pro honors in 1990. He died at age 46 in March 2005 while lifting weights at home.
Former UF teammate Charlie Skalaski, a senior defensive back in 1977 when Little was a fresh-faced newcomer from Jackson High in Miami, remembers Little's tenacity on the field and his easy-going demeanor off it. Little arrived at UF primarily known as the younger brother of future Pro Football Hall of Famer Larry Little, at the time an All-Pro offensive lineman for the Miami Dolphins and 14 years older than David. A photo illustration highlighting David Little during his college career. (Courtesy of the Pensacola News-Journal via Newspapers.com).
He instantly got to work at UF to escape his big brother's shadow.
"He came in at a time when we had a great linebacker in Scot Brantley, and then he got in the fold and started to play more and more and we really had a dynamic tandem,'' said Skalaski, who is back at UF as an assistant director of player personnel. "Very similar to three years before that when we had two All-American linebackers in Ralph Ortega and Glenn Cameron. And then these two cats came along and it was kind of like the second coming of that. He was in an era when Florida was Linebacker U."
Little's career is dotted with intriguing footnotes.
Besides his older brother being one of the greatest offensive linemen in NFL history, Little shared the spotlight at UF with Brantley, one of the program's most famous alums. With the Steelers, Little eventually took over the spot vacated by Jack Lambert, another Pro Football Hall of Famer and a primary cog in the Steel Curtain defense of the 1970s. Growing up in Miami when Larry was in his prime with the hometown Dolphins, David was featured in the Miami News as a 15-year-old sophomore, the only member on the 90-man Jackson High roster not an upperclassmen.
It was as if Little was always an underdog fighting for recognition.
As he prepared to play his final game for the Gators, Little reflected on what recruiters from other schools used to tell him.
"They told me I'd be sitting on the bench for three years and wouldn't be good enough to play while Scot was there – that kinda stuff,'' Little told the Orlando Sentinel. "I had a point to prove."
He did more than that, earning first team All-American honors as a senior in 1980. In a victory over Auburn that season, Little recorded 21 tackles, forced two fumbles, intercepted a pass and deflected another pass that was picked off by teammate Fernando Jackson.
More importantly, he passed on the lessons he learned along the way to his three children – sons David Jr. and Darian, and daughter De'Aira. They will be in Orlando tonight along with their mother Denise Little, and three grandchildren.
What does David Little Jr. want people to know about his father?
"My father always truly believed in, that regardless of where you are, if you are good enough, they will find you,'' he said Monday. "Somebody will always know who you are, somebody will always know what you've done, just by your character and how you handle yourself, especially during times of adversity. That is one thing he taught us growing up."
Denise Little met David at UF. They were two kids from Miami who went to rival high schools. Denise grew up a non-football fan and performed in the band at Miami's Northwestern High. Basketball was the sport that interested her and Denise recalls asking her friends who the 6-foot-1, 225-pound guard was for Jackson that dominated every time Jackson and Northwestern played.
"He used to kill our guys,'' Denise said.
By the time Denise got to know David personally at UF, she finally realized who he was. Their relationship grew over time and when David asked her to come over and watch the NFL Draft in the spring of 1981, she soon discovered how her life was about to change. He was a seventh-round pick of the Steelers.
David Little spent 12 seasons in the NFL with the Pittsburgh Steelers. (File photo)
"I had no idea a person could play college football and go to the draft,'' she said. "He was like, 'this is my new job. This is what I do. I play football.' I learned really fast."
David Lamar Little would be 60 years old today if he was still among us. According to reports, his heart fluttered as he lifted weights 14 years ago, causing him to black out. The bar landed on his body, rolled onto his neck and suffocated him.
Little may be gone, but he remains close to those who knew him best. They know he would be proud of the honor.
"It's bittersweet because we're happy, but then standing up here, we're really missing the man because he is not with his family,'' Denise said. "The only thing small about that man was his last name. He had a humongous spirit. He was massive when people looked at him, but he was just a nice, sweet and humble man."
Little's family is grateful he is back in the news so perhaps others can get to know the man who they cherish for the way he lived his life.
"It's been a long-time coming,'' David Jr. said.
In his final college game, Little helped the Gators defeat Maryland 35-20 in the Tangerine Bowl in Orlando. The victory capped an 8-4 season, marking the first time in history a team had gone winless the previous season (0-10-1) and won a bowl game the next.
Little added a few more tackles to finish with 475, edging Brantley (467) atop the school's all-time list.
They will be talking about that and more Tuesday night at Amway Arena, a short drive from where Little wore the Orange & Blue for the final time.
