LEGENDARY STUFF: Canton’s Little goes from gridiron hero to real-life hero

On Thursday, Sept. 8, 2005, Canton High School senior starting quarterback Shawn Little enjoyed a traditional end-of-the-practice-week team spaghetti dinner alongside his teammates.

Thanks in large part to Little’s leadership skills, athletic ability (at 6-foot-1, 185 pounds, Little was equally dangerous running and throwing) and fierce competitiveness, the state-ranked Chiefs were 2-0 and amped up for the following night’s huge match-up at Walled Lake Western.

A rare three-year varsity starter at QB, Little woke up in the early-morning hours of Sept. 9, 2005, with a serious case of nausea, possibly the result of food poisoning.

“It got so bad,” Little recalled last week, “that I started throwing up blood. I called out to my mom — my dad had already left for work — because the bathroom floor was covered in blood.”

Dangerous situation

Little was rushed to Canton’s Oakwood Hospital urgent care center before the severity of the health scare compelled doctors to transfer him to St. Joseph’s Mercy Hospital in Ypsilanti.

“The doctors ran some tests, but couldn’t figure out what was going on,” Little recounted. “They knew I was bleeding internally, but didn’t know why at first.”

When Little awoke a few hours after being sedated, he learned that he had suffered a torn esophagus.

“The doctors said if I hadn’t woke up when I did, I could have bled out,” he said.

Legendary stuff

The rest of the story is the stuff legends (and ESPN 30 For 30 documentaries) are made.

Little was sidelined for Canton’s next two games — losses to Walled Lake Western and Livonia Franklin, dropping the Chiefs’ record to 2-2. In 2005, teams had to win six of their nine games to qualify for the MHSAA’s post-season.

“During the two weeks I sat out, I lost about 15 to 20 pounds,” Little shared. “I was super skinny. The doctors prescribed rest and gave me some iron pills so I could build my blood supply back up.”

As Little boarded the bus with the rest of the team following the 13-7 setback to Franklin, he said something prophetic to Canton Head Coach Tim Baechler.

‘I’ve got this’

“I remember it like it was yesterday,” he said. “I told Coach Baechler, ‘Hey, I’ve got this’,” referring to the rest of the team’s season.

Still not 100% and at least 10 pounds lighter than his pre-illness playing weight, Little was at the controls of the Chiefs’ offense in their Week 5 55-6 romp over Wayne Memorial.

“After we ran out on the field before games, I’d usually be the one who would be yelling and getting everyone fired up,” he said. “But I still wasn’t feeling great before the Wayne game, so I asked (starting offensive tackle) Ryan Jonik if he could do it that game.”

As Little’s strength gradually returned to normal, so did the Chiefs’ winning ways.

They finished the regular season with a five-game winning streak and entered the Division 1 playoffs with a 7-2 record.

Memorable run

Following playoff wins over Monroe (42-34), Detroit Cody (63-34) and Detroit King (48-21), Canton needed to defeat perennial power Macomb Dakota at Troy Athens High School in order to reach the D1 state title game for the first time in the 33-year history of the school.

“I remember before the game walking out for the coin toss and to shake hands with Dakota’s captains,” Little reminisced. “I couldn’t believe how big those guys were. When I shook their hands, their hands absolutely swallowed my hand.”

Canton quickly fell behind 14-0, creating a sense of urgency on the Chiefs’ sideline.

“After we fell behind by two touchdowns, I told Jonik, ‘We have to do something now‘,” Little recalled. “We were running out of time.”

Down goes Dakota

Fueled by a super hero-like effort from 5-foot-7 running back Deshon McClendon, Canton rallied to knock off Dakota, 35-21, setting the stage for the following week’s title game at Ford Field against No. 1-ranked Rockford.

“The morning of the championship game, when I arrived at P-CEP I saw a bunch of police cars with their lights on and wondered, ‘What’s going on?’,” Little said. “It turns out our team buses were getting a police escort to the highway.

“When we arrived at Ford Field, I think we all kind of felt a little like celebrities. I mean, we were just 17-year-old kids about to play in front of a huge crowd (39,000 people attended the game).”

Despite  a valiant effort by the Chiefs, Rockford prevailed 31-21 (Canton trailed just 24-21 with three minutes to play).

“What I loved about that team was that we were like a bunch of misfits … we had so many different personalities who were brought together in such a random way. Our team chemistry was so on point.

“We didn’t have any five-star recruits; heck, we didn’t have any three-star recruits. And only three of our players ended up playing in college. We got along so well; we never had any fights. Once the games started, we were all business.”

The rest of the story …

After graduating from Canton in 2006, Little went on to play baseball at Madonna University, where he earned a degree in Fire Science.

Little served as an on-call firefighter in Plymouth before moving in 2016 to Atlanta, where his soon-to-be-girlfriend Beth had relocated due to a job opportunity.

The former Chief spent a year in the Atlanta Fire Academy before being hired as a full-time firefighter in one of the largest cities in the United States.

“I was the president of my academy graduating class, so I had to give a speech in front of about 500 people,” he said.

Dramatic moment

At the conclusion of his speech, Little called Beth to the stage.

“I proposed to her in front of all those people,” he said, smiling.

The Littles are now the proud parents of a 3-year-old son, Logan.

“He’s all in on baseball,” Little said. “He’s already been to about 10 Major League games, and we took him to a Savannah Bananas game.

“Unlike most 3-year-olds, he’s locked in on the game, taking everything in. When we get home, he’ll start mimicking what the players do when they’re in the batter’s box.”

Football prepared him for life

When asked if playing football helped prepare him for life as a firefighter, he said: “100%”.

“Being a firefighter is all about being a team player,” he said. “We see things that most normal people don’t see, so it’s important that we have one another to talk to.

“We all have each other’s back. If we see someone’s not acting quite right, we’ll go workout or have a few beers and talk things over.”

Now 37, Little said he and his family return to southeast Michigan three or four times a year.

“When we’re back there, I make it a point to get together with some of my former Canton teammates and coaches,” he said.

“That was a special group. We did some special things.”

Ed Wright can be reached at 734-664-4657 or edwright@socialhousenews.com.