Floyd Little's Lead Blocker To The NFL Hall Of Fame

Tom Mackie has found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. He’s tracked down Cinderella, post-pumpkin, and put that glass slipper on her foot.

So what’s next?

“Now I have more time to be a husband, a dad and a worker bee, just like everyone else,” says the 47-year old football fan and writer who became an overnight sensation by connecting with his childhood idol and helping that man—Floyd Little—reach the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Mackie was the star of a July Sports Illustrated feature that chronicled his six-year, PowerPoint-packed quest to get Little—an All-Pro running back in his day with borderline Hall of Fame credentials—into the Hall. Little got the call and the famous gold Hall of Fame blazer this year. Mackie got a lot more.

“I was his hero, and at the end of the day, he became my hero,” the 60-year-old Little says. “It’s amazing, but our roles have reversed. I want to grow up to be like Tom Mackie.”

Mackie has been one heck of a role model—for Hall of Famers, or anyone else. He grew up a Denver Broncos fan despite living thousands of miles away in Wilmington, Del. His favorite player was Little, an aptly named 5-foot-10 running back who nonetheless played with amazing heart and was named to five Pro Bowls in a nine-year career. Little retired from the game in 1975, but Mackie clung to his fandom. Finally, in 2003, Tom’s wife Emily arranged a special 40th birthday present for Mackie—a face-to-face meeting with Little at a car dealership he owned in West Covina, Ca. The two hit it off immediately, and a seed was planted. Mackie was amazed that the football world had forgotten Little. He set about to change that.

“It wasn’t about getting him in the Hall of Fame; it was just about recognition,” Mackie says today. “So I worked up a PowerPoint presentation, and mailed it off to all the writers. They started to use many of the facts I had as part of articles. All of a sudden it was, ‘Hey, momentum!’ and I thought maybe I could make this happen.”

Mackie considers himself “at least a part-time football writer” who does occasional work for Giants Digest and maintains a membership in the Pro Football Writers of America. But he isn’t one of the 44 veteran PFWA writers who also serve as electors for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. When Mackie and Little met in 2003, Little had never even been nominated for the Hall. But Mackie’s yearly blitzes to the writers playing off Little’s uniform number—44 Reasons to Elect Floyd Little, 44 Hall of Famers on 44 Floyd Little and more—built momentum. By 2009, Little was nominated, though not elected. In 2010, nominated again. This time, Mackie reloaded once more.

Mackie had seen the case of fellow 2009 nominee Claude Humphrey, a star defensive end who failed to get the required 80% vote of the 44 electors. Mackie felt Humphrey should have been a slam dunk, and open-and-shut case for easy Hall entry. But he had been left out in the cold. Humphrey’s plight provided Mackie’s final inspiration.

“Claude Humphrey was somehow out?” Mackie asks. “Because of that, I couldn’t breathe until Floyd was in. Once Floyd was nominated again in 2010, I never rested a day. I put together a document to overcome any objection someone might have—his 3.9 yards-per-carry average, only one 1000-yard season, [Hall of Fame elector] Peter King’s stupid point about 54 yards per game. Everything I could think of someone might use as an argument against his election, I tried to get out in front of and supply a counter to. I sent it off to the man giving Floyd’s presentation to the voters.”

The 2010 vote came in, and Floyd Little was finally in. Mackie—of course—was with Little in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., where the announcement was made the day before the Super Bowl. The two shared congratulatory hugs, tears flowing down their cheeks. The tears flowed again in August in Canton, Ohio, when Little was officially inducted into the Hall, and thanked Tom Mackie as part of his induction speech.

Mackie could finally breathe—a sign of relief. “I had my 15 minutes of fame,” he laughs. “The local paper did something. But in terms of getting more writing assignments…nothing much changed. Not really.” Mackie, who works full-time as a marketing writer for a large health care corporation, now spends more time with his wife and 2-year-old child, and maintains his own football blog, TrueGridiron.com.

And there are those who would dismiss Mackie’s contributions. Joe Horrigan, VP of communications for the Professional Football Hall of Fame, is one of them. “The reality is that the campaigning that Tom did had no impact on Floyd’s election,” Horrigan says flatly. “The bigger contribution really came from a couple of the electors, who presented evidence similar to Tom’s. It may not have been the same, but it was very similar. Tom’s greatest contribution, I think, was in keeping Floyd Little’s name in the front of the mind of media and fans.”

Horrigan may be selling…but Floyd Little is not buying. “Tom is the sole reason I got elected,” he says. “Ever since the day I met him, he has worked feverishly for me. He found out some of the stuff in the Broncos’ media guide was wrong. He went through the stats, game by game, to find yardage I wasn’t credited with. All of the things he did…he was the catalyst. Without him, I wouldn’t be a Hall of Famer today.”

And maybe, just maybe, Mackie could be a catalyst again. Little thinks several of his Broncos teammates—Randy Gradishar, Billy Thompson, Louie Wright and Rich Jackson—deserve a hard look from the Hall. One of those names does kind of jump at Mackie. Asked if he might champion another, well…

“If there was one player, it would be Billy Thompson,” Mackie admits, as obscure stats start flowing readily from his lips. “You know, he’s the only cornerback and safety to lead the league in punt return and kickoff return yardage in the same year, which he did as a rookie in 1969…”

Every new season brings new promise. Billy Thompson, watch out—2011 might be your year.