Obituary: David Little

Obituary: David Little / Former Steelers linebacker

Former player, 46, had enlarged heart

Tuesday, March 22, 2005
By Gerry Dulac, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The shadows that enveloped David Little always appeared to be immense.

He grew up and played football in the same city as his older brother, Larry, an All-Pro guard with the Miami Dolphins and a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

When he was drafted by the Steelers in 1981, he backed up perennial Pro Bowl linebacker Jack Lambert, another Hall of Famer, before replacing Lambert in 1984.

But Little never let that bother him. He never tried to ride his brother's fame. Nor did he try to emulate Lambert or any of the other great Steelers linebackers.

"David was his own man," his wife, Denise, said. "He never let anything affect him. He never got caught up in anything."

Little, 46, who played 12 seasons with the Steelers until he was released in 1993, died Thursday while working out alone in his Miami home.

Denise Little said an autopsy revealed her husband had a heart arrhythmia that caused him to drop a 250-pound barbell on his chest. The bar rolled onto Little's throat, suffocating him. Little was found by the oldest of his three children, son, David Jr., 18.

Mrs. Little said the coroner's report determined her husband had an enlarged heart, a condition unbeknownst to her and the former Steelers linebacker. The arrhythmia could have been brought on by "strenuous activity," Mrs. Little said she was told by the coroner.

"Me being his big brother, 14 years apart, and him having to grow up in the city where I was a star on a great football team, he never let it bother him," Larry Little said yesterday from Miami, where he is head coach of the Miami Morays, a team in the National Indoor Football League. "It never deterred him. He did things his own way.

"He was very easy going, very calm, and you never saw him angry. He'd give you the shirt off his back, if he had it."

Little carved his niche in 12 seasons with the Steelers, being elected the team's co-MVP with Rod Woodson in 1988 and being selected to his first and only Pro Bowl after the 1990 season. He was known as a quiet leader, a player whom Coach Chuck Noll once referred to as "the glue who held our defense together."

He appeared in 179 games with the Steelers, starting 125 after replacing an injured Lambert in the 1984 season opener. He was the team's leading tackler in five seasons and missed only five games because of injury in 12 years.

"If you didn't know it, or you didn't do the research, you would never know he was Larry Little's brother," said former wide receiver Louis Lipps, who played eight seasons with Little. "That's the way David carried himself. He always had a positive thing to say and he was the ultimate competitor."

"David was a raspy-voiced guy from Florida, but he was the quiet leader on that defense," said former guard Craig Wolfley, who played eight seasons with Little. "He was always overlooked, but he was always one of our best players. He had this great sense of determination and a great sense of humor that made him priceless."

Little once played 89 consecutive games for the Steelers. After being a seventh-round draft choice from the University of Florida in 1981, he didn't miss a NFL game because of injury until the beginning of the 1988 season.
"He was gentle giant," Mrs. Little said. "He did great things, but he never wanted to be in the limelight. He always gave credit to everybody else."

Steelers owner Dan Rooney, who is in Hawaii attending the NFL owners meetings, was unaware of Little's death. Rooney said he talked to Little several months ago when Little called about getting into coaching.

"David was a fine guy and was a really good player, someone who really contributed to the Steelers," Rooney said. "He played his position well. He was a good addition to us. I'm sorry to hear it, I really am."

Little played at Miami's Jackson High School before attending Florida, where he graduated with a degree in sociology. He was working as a counselor at Village South, a drug rehabilitation center in Miami, and often gave antidrug speeches at local schools.

Mr. Little was the youngest of seven children -- four girls and three boys. His oldest brother, George, died in 1971.

Mrs. Little said one of her husband's last thrills was seeing his son, David, help Miami's Killian High School win the Florida Class AAAAAA championship last fall.

"We were so proud of him," Denise Little said. "He got to see his son play and win the state championship."

In addition to his wife and son, Little is survived by two other children -- Darien, 16, and DeAira, 10. A funeral service will be 2 p.m. Thursday at New Birth Cathedral Church in Miami.

Mrs. Little said memorial donations can be made to a Children For College Fund at Wachovia Bank in Miami.

(Gerry Dulac can be reached at gdulac@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1466.)