BRONCOS GREAT FLOYD LITTLE ENTERS PRO FOOTBALL HALL OF FAME
Floyd Little
On the day Floyd Little the football player was to receive assurance that he would live forever  Floyd Douglas Little  the man born on the Fourth of July  picked at his breakfast.
 The Broncos' first star with national appeal  Little had to wait 30 years after he was eligible for election to become the franchise's third player inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday at Fawcett Field  the high school home field of Broncos head coach Josh McDaniels.
 Halfway through his two-egg omelet Saturday morning  Little got a call from McDaniels  who was kicking from inside his mother's womb when Little took his final handoff in 1975.
 The story goes that Little saved the Broncos franchise. A college sensation at Syracuse  Little became the Broncos' first  first-round draft pick to snub the National Football League and sign with Denver's struggling American Football League franchise. The excitement of Little's arrival  coupled with a nonprofit group that funded the expansion of Bears Stadium to what became Mile High Stadium in 1968  scuttled relocation plans and kept the team in Denver.
 As members of the new Hall class were waiting in a holding room for ESPN broadcaster Chris Berman to stop talking Friday  Little was filled with calm and peace. And a little feistiness.
 Joining him among the senior players who were elected was Dick LeBeau  the former Detroit Lions defensive back who is now the Pittsburgh Steelers defensive coordinator. LeBeau has taken on a protective  never-let-them-read-you persona that is typical of longtime NFL coaches. But Little poked away at LeBeau's guard.
 LeBeau couldn't help smiling at Little's playfulness.
On the day [TGT] was to receive assurance that [TGT] would live forever  Floyd Douglas Little  the man born on the Fourth of July  picked at his breakfast.
 The Broncos' first star with national appeal  Little had to wait 30 years after he was eligible for election to become the franchise's third player inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday at Fawcett Field  the high school home field of Broncos head coach Josh McDaniels.
 Halfway through his two-egg omelet Saturday morning  Little got a call from McDaniels  who was kicking from inside his mother's womb when Little took his final handoff in 1975.
 The story goes that Little saved the Broncos franchise. A college sensation at Syracuse  Little became the Broncos' first  first-round draft pick to snub the National Football League and sign with Denver's struggling American Football League franchise. The excitement of Little's arrival  coupled with a nonprofit group that funded the expansion of Bears Stadium to what became Mile High Stadium in 1968  scuttled relocation plans and kept the team in Denver.
 As members of the new Hall class were waiting in a holding room for ESPN broadcaster Chris Berman to stop talking Friday  Little was filled with calm and peace. And a little feistiness.
 Joining him among the senior players who were elected was Dick LeBeau  the former Detroit Lions defensive back who is now the Pittsburgh Steelers defensive coordinator. LeBeau has taken on a protective  never-let-them-read-you persona that is typical of longtime NFL coaches. But Little poked away at LeBeau's guard.
 LeBeau couldn't help smiling at Little's playfulness.