Donovan Little

Former Suffolk University basketball star Donovan Little of Dorchester was inducted into the Suffolk University inaugural Athletic Hall of Fame during an awards dinner held recently at the Royal Sonesta Hotel in Cambridge.

Little ended his brilliant four-year career as Suffolk men’s basketball all-time leading scorer with 2,033 points. No other Ram player has ever reached the 2,000-point plateau. What makes Little’s achievement so spectacular is that he accomplished it at a time when the game had no three-point line or shot clock.

A native of Jamaica, Little moved to Dorchester with his family when he was 13. Though he had never played basketball until he came to this country, by his senior year at Boston Tech, he had become good enough to earn several all-city and all-state honors.

Little, a 6-foot-4-inch forward, came to Suffolk relatively unnoticed, but it didn’t take him long to catch everyone’s eye. He broke into the starting lineup as a freshman on a talent-laden 1976 team when a senior was sidelined with a virus.

As a senior in 1979, Little averaged 24.6 points and 10.4 rebounds per game, both team highs, and also led Suffolk in steals and blocked shots. For his career, he averaged 21.4 points per game. His all-around play helped Suffolk qualify for the NCAA Division III Regional Tournament in each of his first three seasons.

Some of the many accolades Little received during his career included being named an All-American by Basketball Weekly Magazine; an All-New England selection by United Press International, the National Association of Basketball Coaches and the Eastern College Athletic Conference; a Boston Herald New England All Star; and a New England Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame All Star.