Larry Little now has a street named for him. And I am so proud of my longtime friend | Opinion

I love being the bearer of good news. And the good news for today is the street-naming for one of Miami’s native sons, activist, Football Hall of Famer, and my longtime friend Larry Little. The recognition began Monday morning (March 27), at Little’s alma mater Booker T. Washington High School, 1200 NW Sixth Ave. in Overtown.

The street that bears Little’s name is Northwest 11th Terrace, from Northwest Sixth Avenue to Northwest First Avenue, which is near Dixie Park in Overtown. That’s where he first started dreaming of a football career when he was only 9.

Growing up, Little attended Miami-Dade County’s public schools — Paul Laurence Dunbar and Phillis Wheatley Elementary schools and graduated from Booker T. Washington Junior/Senior High school (BTW) in 1963.

“Then, when I was in the ninth grade, I took a chance and auditioned for BTW’s football team. I was only 13 at the time, and didn’t know how good, or bad I was. But I loved the game, and it was about that time I started dreaming of making football my lifetime profession,” Little said.

Football practice back then was held at Dixie Park, a few blocks from the school, and near Northwest 11th Terrace, which is the designated street to bear his name. Later football practice was moved to Dorsey Park, dubbed the Dust Bowl because of the lack of grass on the football field.

“I started playing under Coach James Everett, and during my last two years of high school, my coach was Alkin Hepburn,” Little said.

After graduating high school Little entered Bethune-Cookman College (now University), where he was a two-time selection to the All-Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, where the Bethune-Cookman University Wildcats posted winning records. He began his professional football career in 1967 with the San Diego Chargers and was later traded to the Miami Dolphins in 1969. With the Dolphins Little earned the starting right guard position and played an important part in the team’s advancing to three consecutive Super Bows in 1971, 1972 and 1973.

In 1972, he was a part of the Dolphins’ perfect championship season, the only undefeated NFL champions in modern history, a title the team still holds.

Little played 12 seasons with the Dolphins, earning All-Pro honors six times, was a Pro-Bowl selection on five occasions and was Offensive Lineman of the Year in the 1971 through 1973 seasons. From 1971 through 1975, and again in 1977, Little was named first team All-NFL. He was also named second team All-NFL in 1978 and All-AFC five times. He served as captain of the Dolphins for 10 years.

When Little retired from the pro football scene in 1980, he went to work as the athletic director at Miami Edison High school. In 1983, he became the head football coach at Bethune-Cookman University. And in 1992 He became the first African American coach in the World Football League, coaching the Ohio Glory, which was owned by the NFL.

In 1993, Little became the head coach at North Carolina Central University. That same year, he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He was also the first Dolphin player from Florida to be inducted into the Florida Sports Hall of Fame. And in 2004, he was inducted into the Booker T. Washington Athletic Hall of Fame.

In all, Little has been honored more than 250 times for his community service which includes inductions in the Black College Hall of Fame (2013) and the United Teachers of Dade (UTD) Hall of Fame in 2021.

When Little retired in 1999 from North Carolina University and moved back home, he got involved in community activities and with the Miami-Dade County Public School System as the Community Liaison Specialist.

In Jan. of 2022, Little retired for the third time, and last time, he said. Today he enjoys working with the foundation named for him, which supports inner city youth programs such as the Larry Little Gold Coast Summer Camp and raising scholarship money to help young people further their education.

Last year Little and his partners Freddie Woodson and Rudy Barber, raised $40,000 through the Larry Little Golf Tournament, a part of which went to Bethune-Cookman University’s scholarship program.

Given Little’s involvement in the community and with its youth, it is easy to see why his former coach the late Don Shula once called him “a real inspiration, not just for the way he performs, but also for his influence on our younger players.”

His late brother David, who died 17 years ago, played with the Pittsburgh Steelers, and was inducted in the Florida Sports Hall of fame in 2020.

When I asked him what the street-naming means to him, Little said: “I have had lots of honors and recognitions throughout my career. But this is one of the biggest honors I have ever had. This one ranks among the top,” he said.

Little is the third of seven siblings. He, and his wife Rosie are the parents of four, grandparents of 10 and great-grandparents of four.

Founder of traveling photo exhibit honored

Kudos to Scherley Busch, who last Wednesday, along with her committee, pulled together a lovely reunion luncheon honoring the Florida Women of Achievement. Busch is founder and creative director of the Florida Women of Achievement Photo Documentary, a traveling photo exhibit of notable Florida women.

The event, held at the Riviera Country Club in Coral Gables, was hosted by Ed and Carol Williamson (Carol’s photo is included in the exhibit), and was the first time since the pandemic that women in the exhibit were able to meet and make plans for a permanent home for the 31-year-old exhibit.

It was in the late 1980’s that Busch first conceived of the idea of such an exhibit. Her motivation was first, to make an artistic statement and then to record the history of the contributions of Florida women. In 1992, Busch’s dream became a reality when she presented the first 12 women in an exhibit to the South Florida community at a luncheon. Among those in the first exhibit were the late Marjory Stoneman Douglas, who was 104 years old at the time.

“The idea,” she said, “was to present these women as the role models they are to children, as well as to adults. The exhibit exemplifies what can be accomplished with a dream and the drive to make the dreams a reality,” Busch said.

Since then, the exhibit and its educational programs, which includes lectures and videos featuring the honored women, have been presented in over 60 venues, including the U.S. Senate Russell Rotunda, the Florida State Capitol, the Florida Governor’s Mansion, the HistoryMiami Museum, The Miami Herald and at other public and private venues in and out of Florida.

For sponsorship opportunities, to see photos of the women in the exhibit, and for more information go to, www.floridawomenofachievement.org, or call 786-371-1992.

This column was updated to reflect that the street-naming ceremony was held Monday. Additional photos were also added.

Bea Hines can be reached at bea.hines@gmail.com.