• 2016 CoSIDA Special Awards general announcement/release
• Special Awards feature story schedule
by Jenna McEachern, www.burntorangebooks.com
Bill Little has been the face—and the voice—of Longhorn athletics for more than 50 years. Long before sports reporting turned digital, Little, as sports editor of the Daily Texan, was hammering out copy on a manual Royal typewriter.
After his 1964 graduation from UT, Bill spent two years writing for the
Austin American-Statesman, then moved
Bill Little throughout the years at the University of Texas.
to Oklahoma City to write for
The Associated Press. After two-years with the AP, Little returned home to Austin and to The University of Texas for good.
“I saw there was this really good job in public relations at The University of Texas,” Little said. “I called Coach Royal, and I said, ‘Coach, I want to come back.’ And he said, ‘I’d like to have you back.’ And that was the extent of it. I started that spring.”
It seems incredible that Darrell Royal hired 26-year-old Little as Texas’ assistant SID based only on a two-sentence interview. Yet Royal knew Little’s work, knew his character, knew he’d be loyal and and always professional. Royal’s assessment was on the money.
Inducted into the Longhorn Hall of Honor in 1993, Little served UT in many capacities: as assistant SID under the legendary Jones Ramsey, as Sports Information Director, then Special Assistant to the Athletic Director, Assistant AD for External Communications, then head of communications for Mack Brown. The job titles changed, but the office address stayed the same.
Little worked with five football coaches, five basketball coaches, and four athletic directors while at The University. Decades of Longhorn football, basketball, and baseball fans recognized that familiar voice over the
Interviewing UT baseball coach Augie Garrido; at the dedication of the Bill Little Media Center
with wife Kim Scofield (l) and long-time friend and UT supporter Marian Dozier; with Kim
at his UT retirement cermony; receiving his "T" ring with the late football coach Darrell K
Royal, staffer Mike Arias and former football coach Mack Brown.
public address system in stadiums and on radio broadcasts.
Little has worked 37 bowl games, and accompanied an NCAA record 25 teams to the College World Series in Omaha, and as of 2014, he holds the record for consecutive games worked by a Division I SID: 521. The string was almost broken when, just before the 1995 Sugar Bowl, he suffered a heart attack, but the ever-professional Little convinced doctors that he'd be under more stress in the hospital than he would if he attended the game. Streak intact.
Little’s legacy to The University is remarkable. He served as mentor and father figure to countless student-athletes through the years. CoSIDA’s Academic All-America Committee acknowledged Little’s influence on UT’s athletes by awarding him the Lester Jordan Award, “for exemplary service…and the promotion of the ideals of being a student-athlete.”
He’s been a good-will ambassador and host to hundreds of sportswriters and broadcasters who grew to love Austin and Tex-Mex while covering Longhorn athletic events. Young writers found encouragement, counsel, and occasionally, employment from the veteran journalist.
Little is
the authority on UT Athletics history, and his award-winning columns and commentaries have left the Longhorn Athletic Department a written history--a vast archive--of its athletics programs and those who made it great. Little has authored or co-authored nine books on UT and college athletics.
“I always found that, if you can write something that can make a difference to somebody, it can change a life,” Little said. “I was a bad golfer and a worse tennis player. I wasn’t big enough to play football, and I was too short to play basketball, so my only gifts were to write and talk. If I was going to do what God put me on this planet to do, then I needed to do those things.”
Little attended his first CoSIDA workshop at the 1969 Chicago
meeting, then entered the officer rotation in
Bill Little and Kim Scofield with nine of their 10 grandchildren.
1985. As president in 1989, he presided over the first 1,000-person workshop in CoSIDA history. Named to the CoSIDA Hall of Fame in 1992, Little received the Arch Ward Award in 1998, for “inspiring excellence in and bringing dignity to our profession.”
He is one of the most decorated writers in the profession: The FWAA honored him with their Lifetime Achievement award, and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers awarded him the Wilbur Snypp award “for outstanding contributions to college baseball.”
Award-winning sports journalist Kirk Bohls called Little “the epitome of a knowledgeable, professional SID who had a rich background in journalism and who understood the balance of truth-telling and serving a university’s athletic program … the personification of UT athletics, there’s not a sportswriter or sportscaster in the country who didn’t work with and appreciate the contributions of Bill Little.”
Legendary broadcaster Verne Lundquist, the 2015 CoSIDA Jake Wade Award recipien, said,"I've known Bill since the early 1960's which, having to put up with me for more than five decades, should alone qualify him for the COSIDA [Lifetime Achievement Award. Bill has been a consummate professional and a great friend over the years and this honor is richly deserved. Enjoy, Bill. Congratulations.”
He brought great honor to The University, to the profession he loves, and to himself. His influence is so great that the football and baseball press boxes at Texas are now named the “Bill Little Media Center,” a gift from longtime friend and UT athletics supporter Marian Dozier.
Bill’s wife, Kim Scofield, is also his advisor, editor, and travel companion and has been a true partner in his work. They have three children and ten grandchildren, all Longhorn fans.
Upon retirement in 2014 Little said, “Texas Athletics has pretty much been my life for close to 60 years. But now, I think I’ve earned the right to set my bucket down.” Still, Little continues as an advisor to the Athletics Department, and broadcasts Longhorn baseball games.
Little’s longtime friend Dan Jenkins has the last word:
“If you want a guy to dive into a vat of burnt orange fluid and drown himself to achieve good print for the Longhorns, Bill Little is your man. He collected good journalism friends from all around the old Southwest Conference and now the Big 12. Why? Because he was always honest and enjoyed the success of other people and even, at times, of a Longhorn opponent. Bill comes from a long-forgotten time when a conference was like a family. Like Bill, those of us who knew such times still miss them.”