NFL Holiday Games - Floyd Little vs The Nutcracker r

NFL Holiday Games

Floyd Little vs The Nutcracker

The Denver Broncos and their fans (of which I was one) came into the 1975 season with great optimism.  The Broncos posted the first two winning records in franchise history in 1973 (7-5-2) and 1974 (7-6-1).  1975 marked the first year the Broncos expected to make a serious run at the playoffs.

Bronco hopes hinged largely on the talents of third-year running back Otis Armstrong.  In 1974 Armstrong won the starting tailback job from Bronco star Floyd little and led the league in rushing with 1407 yards.  The Broncos offense would feature Armstrong's running and the passing game led by veteran quarterback Charley Johnson.

The season started bright with an exciting home victory against the Kansas City Chiefs.  The Broncos moved to 2-0 beating the Packers 23-13 at Mile High Stadium.  The tide for the season turned in week three when the Bills trounced the Broncos 38-14 in Buffalo behind 240 rushing yards from the backfield duo of O.J. Simpson and Jim Braxton.  Worse, the Broncos were getting inconsistent quarterback play from Johnson and backup Steve Ramsey and Armstrong suffered leg injuries that would end his season after a week four loss to the Steelers.

The season of promise quickly became the season of disappointment.  A listless Bronco team limped through the rest of the season.  On December 14,1975, the 5-7 Broncos would entertain Philadelphia in the last home game of the season.

The NFL lifted the "blackout" rule in 1973.  The television stations now could broadcast home games to the home team's local region if the team sold out its games 72 hours prior to kickoff.  The Broncos have a long consecutive sellout streak so the lifting of the blackout rule meant fans could watch all Bronco games each year.  Where before I listened to Bronco home games on the radio, beginning in 1973 I could watch those home games in bold, living color.

So, on December 14, 1975 I planned to park myself in front of the television at 2:00 and watch the 5-7 Broncos play the 3-9 Eagles.  I know that does not sound like high drama.  However, the reader needs to keep two things in mind: First, Bronco fans in 1975 had pretty low standards.  We loved the Broncos, but the team had never won more than seven games in a season.  Second, the Philadelphia game would be the last home game for Floyd Little, the only true hero/star the Bronco franchise had produced to that time.

The Broncos drafted Little out of Syracuse with the sixth pick in the combined 1967 AFL/NFL draft.  Little played at Syracuse at a time when the Orangemen were producing some of the game's great backs including: Jim Brown, Ernie Davis, Jim Nance and Larry Csonka.  Under the Merger Agreement between the AFL and the NFL, The leagues would hold a common draft in the years leading up to the formal merger in 1970.  The 1967 draft was the first common draft.  The Broncos therefore knew they could sign Little without having to bid against a team in the NFL that would have deeper pockets.

Floyd Little became the darling of the Denver Broncos and the entire Denver sports scene.  The AFL/NFL merger legitimized Denver as a professional football town.  Floyd Little legitimized the team by making it more competitive on the field and by giving the Denver fans their first real Denver Bronco football hero.  I was five years old when Floyd Little played his first Bronco game in 1967. 

The Broncos played their first post merger road game against an old NFL team on October 25, 1970.  Little ran for 140 yards that day against the 49ers, including an 80-yard touchdown dash.  I still remember sitting on the floor in the living room in front of the television as Little took it all the way.  The Broncos lost 19-14, but Floyd Little was legit.  Later that week Floyd Little was downtown signing autographs at a department store.  My mom waited in line and surprised me with the treasure when she came home from work: Little's autograph reads "Be Happy John  - Floyd Little #44 Denver Broncos."  I still have the autograph that is on the back of an advertisement for a Coleco electronic football game.

Little led the league, the big boy NFL, in rushing in 1971 with 1134 yards.  He gained 979 yards and scored 12 touchdowns in 1973 when the Broncos had their first winning season and narrowly missed earning their first playoff trip.  Little made the Pro Bowl five times in his nine years.  He rushed for 6323 yards and 43 touchdowns.  He added 2400 yards and 9 receiving touchdowns on 215 career receptions.  In his first three years in the league little was also a dangerous punt and kickoff returner.  He tallied 3400 return yards and two touchdowns during the seasons he returned kicks.

Little almost literally carried the Broncos much of his career.  In 1973 the Broncos drafted his successor at running back, Otis Armstrong.  By 1974 Armstrong had supplanted Little as Denver's number one back gaining 1407 yards to lead the NFL. 

When Armstrong went down in 1975 a gallant Little returned to the lineup.  The years though, had caught up with Floyd and he had announced that 1975 would be his final season.  Little showed few flashes of his old self as the Broncos staggered to the end of a disappointing campaign.

So, the only real reason to watch the Broncos play Philadelphia on December 14, 1975 was to say good-by to a hero.  I owed that to Floyd. 

After we got home from church I finished my homework that was due on Monday and got ready to watch Floyd's last game in Denver.

Or so I thought.  A half hour before kick-off my little sister came into the den and asked me why I wasn't getting ready. 

"Getting ready for what?"

"Mom said to get ready, we are going downtown to see the Nutcracker Ballet."

"I'm not going.  I am sure she just means you and Sarah (my older sister).  Dad and I are going to stay home and watch the game."

Hmmm.  I did not like the sound of this.  Luckily I knew my dad wanted no part of the Nutcracker and would defend a man and his son's right to sit at home on a Sunday, send the women off downtown to watch ballet, and cheer the man who saved football in Denver.

Then my dad stepped into the den.  He was wearing his "going out" leisure suit.  This was not a good sign.  "What, she is making you go too?"

"She is not making me, I want to go.  Your mom wants you kids to experience a little Christmas tradition."

"I don't want to go."

"She bought five tickets and says you have to go."

"Tell her I will pay her back for the ticket."

"I don't think that will work and I don't want to start a fight over something like this."

I could not believe what was happening.  I was in the eighth grade.  I had stayed by myself many times to watch games while the rest of my family went places.  In fact, many of the best moments of my young life were those spent watching a big game in the glory of an empty house.  This was not a big game but it was a meaningful game, a sentimental game.  How could the same woman who had waited an hour in line to get me a Floyd Little autograph not understand why I needed to watch this game?

"Please get ready," my dad pleaded.

So this is how it is going down?  Five people are going to go watch the Nutcracker.  One of them thinks this is great holiday cheer.  Two of them (my sisters) are largely indifferent but it is at least something to do rather than watch football.  One of them is trying to keep the peace rather than take a stand (thanks dad).  One of them hopes that the car won't start.

I hope you are all getting a picture of a stern, cross, old woman forcing her family off to an afternoon of misery.  In fairness I should point out that my mom was not old, nor was my dad.  My parents got married irresponsibly young and exacerbated that mistake by having three children in fairly short order.   Thus the holiday five included my 32 year-old parents, my fourteen year-old sister Sarah, me (age 13), and my nine year-old sister Cheryl.  Perhaps a more experienced set of parents would have already gotten the Nutcracker out of their system.  It struck me that we were rushing to create a little "better late than never" holiday memory.

I don't have any photos to verify this, but I am pretty sure that I was the only teenage male in the crowd of 2,500 or so that sat down for the Sunday matinee performance of the Nutcracker ballet.  I seriously remember absolutely nothing about the performance.  OK, I remember that my family was having a good time together and there were some pretty ballerinas.  At intermission I overheard some people who had overheard some other people who had smuggled a radio into the auditorium mention that the Broncos led 10-7 at halftime.

Time can stand still when you are locked into an environment that precludes you from making contact with the real world that matters.  So there I sat.  There I sat some more.  There I sat not even trying to sort out if there was more to what was in front of me than appeared, but kind of enjoying it nonetheless.  We got dressed up.  We clapped politely.  We told ourselves this was a part of the holidays.  We missed Floyd Little's last game in Denver.

I don't remember when or how the Nutcracker ended.  That it ended I am sure because nearly 37 years later to the day I sit here a free man typing this post.  I sit here today in a wondrous world of technology that allows me to write a post and broadcast it to the world and that allows me to record a sporting event and watch it without commercials or play stoppages anytime I want.  37 years ago I could not complain to the technology-enabled masses, nor could I record Floyd Little's last game in Denver. 

The holiday five got in the car to drive home.  My dad asked if I wanted to listen to the postgame coverage on KOA radio, the Bronco station.  Sure dad, let's get our Bronco information on the radio like we did in the caveman days before we could watch the home games on television.

I don't remember the exact words of the interview but they went something like this:

Interviewer: Floyd, could you imagine a better ending in front of these Bronco fans?

Little: It is almost like a storybook.  I could not have written it any better.  I am happy to have helped my team win and to give the fans some memories that they can take with them.

Interviewer: The screen pass you took for the touchdown, was that a called play?

Little: Yes that was the play call.  I told the guys in the huddle that I was going to take it all the way.

Interviewer: And 66 yards later you had given the team a 16-10 lead and the fans a lasting memory.

Little: It was a special moment.

Interviewer: Tell us about the last touchdown.

Little: That was a little off tackle run and the line did its job.

Interviewer: What a great way to say good-by to the fans.

Little: Like I said, I couldn't have written it any better.  Thank you Bronco fans.  It has been a great ride.

Little had those two scores and 150 combined rushing and receiving yards in a 25-10 Bronco victory.

In Denver there is little debate that John Elway is the greatest Bronco ever.  Among knowledgeable fans there is little debate that Floyd Little is the most important Bronco ever.  Young Bronco fans may not know Floyd Little, but his impact lives on in the legacy of 44 years of consecutive sellouts and the transition of a franchise from laughingstock to one that owns the fourth best record in the post merger era.

Little's stats surely suffered for being a one-man show on a poor offense for most of his career.  Still, he put up numbers that ranked with the best of his peers.  In 2010 Floyd Little entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame. 

I missed the magic memories that Floyd Little created in his last Denver home game.  I have my own memories though.  I have memories of my family together.  I have memories of my mom wanting to share a holiday tradition as a family and of my dad asking me to accept that family time is more important than football.  My parents would divorce three years later.  Though we are all still close and my parents are friends to this day, there are only so many opportunities for young parents to share and create memories with their children.  I thank my parents for a treasure chest of such memories.  And really I did not miss the Floyd Little memories.  They and the Nutcracker live on, forever joined.