Luigi "Lou Little" Piccirilli December 6, 1891 – May 28, 1979) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

player and coach born in Boston, Massachusetts. City of Boston, Birth Registrations, number 8583, December 6, 1891After Lou's birth, his father changed his family name to "Little", translating the Italian family name and moved his family to Leominster in 1896. Little played football at Leominster High School where he was the team captain in 1910, his senior season. The 1910 team, led by Little’s stellar play, was Leominster’s first undefeated football team. Little went on to play one postgraduate season for the Worcester Academy Hilltoppers in 1911 before returning to coach his alma mater Leominster High School for one season in 1912. He served as the head coach at Georgetown College, now

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private research university in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll in 1789 as Georgetown College, the university has grown to comprise eleven undergraduate and graduate ...

, from 1924 to 1929 and at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

from 1930 to 1956, compiling a career

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football in the United States, American football rules first gained populari ...

record of 151–128–13. Little played college football as a tackle at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest- ...

for the 1916 and 1919 seasons and then with the professional football team the

Frankford Yellow Jackets The Frankford Yellow Jackets were a professional American football team, part of the National Football League from 1924 to 1931, although its origin dates back to as early as 1899 with the Frankford Athletic Association. The Yellow Jackets won ...

from 1920 to 1923. He was inducted into the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vo ...

as a coach in 1960. He appeared as ''Lu Libble'' in Jack Kerouac's novel ''

Maggie Cassidy ''Maggie Cassidy'' is a novel by the American writer Jack Kerouac, first published in 1959. It is a largely autobiographical work about Kerouac's early life in Lowell, Massachusetts, from 1938 to 1939, and chronicles his real-life relationship wi ...

'', a fictionalized account of Kerouac's early life.

Playing career and military service

Little, who graduated from

Worcester Academy Worcester Academy is a private school in Worcester, Massachusetts. It is the oldest educational institution founded in the city of Worcester, Massachusetts, and one of the oldest day-boarding schools in the United States. A coeducational prepara ...

, played

at the

. Little gained national attention as a varsity tackle during 1916 season and was named

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

n, and again in the 1919 season. Between those years, he served with distinction during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

with the

American Expeditionary Forces The American Expeditionary Forces (A. E. F.) was a formation of the United States Army on the Western Front of World War I. The A. E. F. was established on July 5, 1917, in France under the command of General John J. Pershing. It fought along ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. Commissioned as a lieutenant, he was promoted to a captain in the

6th Infantry Division 6th Division may refer to: Infantry divisions *6th Division (Australia) * 6th Division (Austria) * 6th (United Kingdom) Division * Finnish 6th Division (Winter War) *Finnish 6th Division (Continuation War) * 6th Division (Reichswehr) *6th Divisio ...

. He saw action in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive.

Coaching career

In 1924, Little accepted the post of head football coach at Georgetown and held the position until 1930, when he resigned to become head football coach at

. Little was the head coach at Columbia from 1930 to 1956. He was probably best known for two wins: the

1934 Rose Bowl The 1934 Rose Bowl, played on January 1, 1934, was an American football bowl game. It was the 20th Rose Bowl Game. The Columbia Lions defeated the Stanford Indians (now Cardinal) 7-0. Cliff Montgomery, the Columbia quarterback, was named the Rose ...

when Columbia beat

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. S ...

, 7–0, and a 21–20 win over

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

in 1947 in which the Columbia Lions handed the Cadets their first loss since the 1943 season finale, snapping a 23-game undefeated streak. At Columbia, Little coached future

Pro Football Hall of Fame The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame for professional American football, located in Canton, Ohio. Opened on September 7, , the Hall of Fame enshrines exceptional figures in the sport of professional football, including players, coa ...

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Am ...

Sid Luckman Sidney Luckman (November 21, 1916 – July 5, 1998) was an American professional football player who was a quarterback for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL) from 1939 through 1950. During his twelve seasons with the Bears, ...

and writer

Jack Kerouac Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac (; March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969), known as Jack Kerouac, was an American novelist and poet who, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, was a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Of French-Canadian an ...

, who broke his leg playing in 1940. Other players he coached include Paul Governali,

Lou Kusserow Louis Joseph Kusserow (September 6, 1927 – June 30, 2001) was an American and Canadian football player who played for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. He won the Grey Cup with them in 1953. Kusserow attended and played football at Columbia University ...

Cliff Montgomery Cliff Montgomery (September 17, 1910 – April 21, 2005) was an American football player who served as the captain of the Columbia Lions football team that won the 1934 Rose Bowl Game. Montgomery, the quarterback, called a hidden-ball trick play kn ...

and

Bill Swiacki William Adam Swiacki (October 2, 1922 – July 7, 1976) was an American football player and coach. He played college football as an end for Columbia University in 1946 and 1947 and was a consensus first-team All-American in 1947. He played pr ...

Personal life

Little was married to Loretta Donohue for 50 years. Following his 1956 retirement they lived in

Barnstable, Massachusetts The Town of Barnstable ( ) is a town in the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the county seat of Barnstable County. Barnstable is the largest community, both in land area and population, on Cape Cod, and is one of thirteen Massachusetts municipalit ...

and Delray Beach, Florida until her death in 1977. Little died at a nursing home in

Delray Beach, Florida Delray Beach is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The population of Delray Beach as of April 1, 2020 was 66,846 according to the 2020 United States Census. Located 52 miles (83 kilometers) north of Miami, Delray Beach is in the ...

on May 28, 1979, at the age of 85.

Head coaching record

References

External links