The summer of 1972 is seared into Floyd Little’s memory.
“It was hot, man, so damn hot,” the Broncos’ Hall of Fame running back recalled. “It was 110 degrees — we called it a ‘dollar-and-a-dime’ — with smog. It got to a point that guys were going to quit.
“Man, Coach had us doing 10 100-yard dashes, with our equipment on, at the end of two-a-days. Now, that was old-school football. Guys lost their lunch.”
The coach was John Ralston, who, after nine years at Stanford, was hired to transform the Broncos from pro football’s perennial doormat into a lean, mean fighting machine.