Neena Satija Photo
Floyd Little looks at a picture of his high school football jersey in a new display case.
In the newly-named Floyd Little Athletic Center next to Hillhouse High School, visitors can see how the eponymous running back went from wearing #33 on Hillhouse’s football team to #44 for the Denver Broncos, then became a pro football Hall-of-Famer.
Hillhouse High’s current gridiron heroes.
Hundreds gathered in the Hillhouse auditorium at noon Wednesday to hear about that journey — as well as how Little raised his SAT scores from 200 to 1280.
The occasion was the formal naming of the New Haven Athletic Center. It is now named after the greatest athlete ever to play the Hillhouse gridiron: Call it the Floyd Little Athletic Center from now on, after the city-bred kid who went on to land a spot in the pro football Hall of Fame.
Little grew up with five siblings and a father who died when he was six. Expelled from Troup Jr. High School as a boy, he later went back to school and graduated from Hillhouse, Syracuse University and the University of Denver College of Law.
“If you want to be the best, you have to hang out with the best,” Little told reporters before the ceremony.
Click here to read full coverage in the New Haven Register.
Little will hold an assembly with freshman and sophomores Friday at 9:30 a.m. at Hillhouse High.