Couple makes $5 million donation to Syracuse’s Lally Athletic Complex in honor of Floyd Little

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Howard (Howie) Phanstiel and wife, Louise Phanstiel, are donating $5 million to the upcoming John A. Lally Athletics Complex on Syracuse University’s South campus.

The Phanstiels’ donation is in honor of the late Floyd Little, the 1967 Syracuse graduate who wore the famous No. 44 while playing football. Little died Jan. 1, 2021 at the age of 78, after nearly a year of battling cancer.

Howie Phanstiel is a life trustee and Louise Phanstiel is a voting trustee on the Syracuse University board of trustees, the university noted in a news release. Howie Phanstiel is the past chairman and CEO of PacifiCare Health Systems, a consumer health company that eventually merged with UnitedHealth Group.

As a member of the Syracuse band, Howie Phanstiel “vividly remembers the speed and determination” Little displayed in carrying the football for the Orange, Syracuse said. They were contemporaries as students who became friends later in life, the university added.

“He was a fierce competitor on the field,” Howie Phanstiel said of Little, the three-time all-American who was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1983 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2010. “Off the field, Floyd was gentle, kind and a very engaged and giving person. There was nothing he wouldn’t do to help Syracuse University. Floyd and his wife, DeBorah, bled Orange, giving back in every way they could.”

The Phanstiels are pledging a $5 million gift to the Forever Orange campaign that will “enhance the student-athlete experience in alignment with the vision” of the $150 million fundraising initiative recently announced by the Syracuse Department of Athletics.

The couple’s latest donation continues their philanthropy with Syracuse in mind. The Phanstiels’ effort includes a decade of scholarship support for more than 80 Phanstiel Scholars through a program designed to encourage students to balance community service with their academic pursuits, the release stated.

“Just as Floyd Little left a legacy, so are the Phanstiels. Floyd Little impacted so many people, not just by his passion for football, but through his mentorship of students and the guidance he imparted to our staff. He was always willing to share his time and his wisdom,” Syracuse University Athletics Director John Wildhack said in the release. “By giving such a generous gift to the Lally Athletics Complex in Floyd Little’s name, the Phanstiels are keeping his spirit alive and reminding us of the best of Orange values and virtues.”

Wildhack added that the Phanstiels’ philanthropic support of the “academic and athletic aspirations of student-athletes is aligned with the transformative vision” behind the Lally Athletics Complex.

The $150 million to be raised from private philanthropy will help transform Manley Field House into the John A. Lally Athletics Complex, an academic and athletics village. The multi-million, multi-year project will get started this spring with the construction of a new front entrance to the center for student-athlete life.