‘Little things’ gave Tony Dorsett a big NFL career

Tony Dorsett kept a sold-out crowd at Florida Tech’s Inside the Huddle event enthralled Saturday evening as he took them on the journey of his life at the Hartley Room on Florida Tech’s campus.

From a young boy watching his dad work in a Pennsylvania steel mill, vowing to never work there himself to his momma’s homemade pies that helped him decide to play college football at the University of Pittsburgh.

The night belonged to Tony Dorsett and he left the crowd with an overlying message.

“Little things make big things happen.”

Words he lived by all the way through college and later the NFL, and still does today.

“Football is a game that you can learn a lot of life lessons in,” Dorsett said. “Football comes and goes but those lessons live forever.”

His first lesson was seeing his father working in the steel mill. The second came as a freshman with the University of Pittsburgh.

His first collegiate game was on the road — at the University of Georgia.

He explained it was not the best place for him to be in the mid-1970s.

“I had to grow up fast,” Dorsett said. “It looked like a million fans in the stadium all in red and white and they were all screaming ‘Dawg food!’ ”

He went on to say that while he did run for over 100 yards in the game, he was pretty sure it was from fear more than anything else.

“I came to the University of Pittsburgh a young boy, left a young man and it was because of the University, both on and off the field,” Dorsett said.

His final story was about his rookie season with the Dallas Cowboys. Dorsett missed a Saturday practice after a power failure made his alarm clock go off too late.

So he goes to the stadium Sunday morning to find a note on his locker that read Coach Landry wanted to see him.

“Tom Landry was a disciplinarian first and foremost, so missing a walkthrough was not going to fly,” Dorsett said.

After hearing his explanation, Landry told him he would not start and probably would not play. Dorsett, whose parents were going to be at the game, pleaded his case but to no avail.

“I played the last three minutes or so, trash time,” Dorsett said. “It taught me a very valuable lesson, be accountable. I was never late or missed another practice or workout.”

As Dorsett was wrapping up his speech, he talked about his journey.

“For me, when I came to the NFL, I thought if I could make it five years I would be thrilled. Well, I doubled that and some change.”

The little things made the big things happen.