Donnie Little was born on October 14,1959 and is a former American football quarterback.
19 Facts About Donnie Little
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Donnie Little was the quarterback of the Texas Longhorns from 1978 to 1980, and in 1978 was the first black quarterback to play for The University of Texas.
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Donnie Little is credited with "opening doors" for future black quarterbacks at Texas, such as James Brown and Vince Young.
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Donnie Little started playing high school football during his junior year when the football coach encouraged black students to play football.
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Donnie Little helped the team make it to the state playoffs in 1976, and in 1977 Dickinson won the Class 3A Football State Championship with Donnie Little as quarterback.
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Donnie Little was a shortstop-pitcher in high school who hit better than.
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Donnie Little had wanted to play baseball too, but felt pressured by Coach Fred Akers to focus on football.
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Donnie Little replaced McEachern in the second quarter of the Oklahoma game, and despite four turnovers in that game, he earned his first career start the following week against North Texas State.
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Donnie Little continued to share quarterback duties as the backup to McEachern until a thumb injury suffered during the Baylor game ended Donnie Little's season.
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Donnie Little missed the second half of the Rice game with a thumb injury, and had to split time with backup Rick McIvor against Texas Tech.
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In 1980, Donnie Little was again the primary quarterback at the beginning of the season, but again would be injured by the end.
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Donnie Little was benched in each of those games in favor of backup Rick McIvor who nearly rallied Texas to a comeback in the Texas Tech game.
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Donnie Little produced 105 yards of total offense with more receiving yards than all the other Texas receivers combined and tied the Cotton Bowl record for most receptions.
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Donnie Little passed for 2,067 yards, had 338 yards receiving and rushed for 1,334 in his career at UT.
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Surprising many, Donnie Little was not selected in the NFL draft, Donnie Little was signed as a free agent by the Atlanta Falcons, but cut before the season started.
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Donnie Little then played for the CFL's Ottawa Rough Riders where he was a wide receiver, quarterback, punt returner and kickoff returner.
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Donnie Little ended his professional sports career and took a job with the University of Texas, where he spent 24 years as a fundraiser for the Longhorn Foundation.
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Donnie Little is an athletic director in Tyler, TX.
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Donnie Little was inducted into the Texas High School Football Hall of Fame in May 2013.