Littler was a quiet, unassuming man belying his status as a star. “Littler…was playing brilliant golf in the final round — and he was doing it unnoticed, as this splendid athlete, with his amazing talent for obscurity, so often has during the past years,” Sports Illustrated’s Alfred Wright wrote about the final round of the ’61 Open. “Jack Murphy, a golf writer for The San Diego Union, counted Littler's gallery on the 3rd hole on the last round. There were seven people. By the 11th it was up to about a hundred.”