Bears Hall of Famer Gale Sayers dies at 77
Legendary Bears RB passes away at age 77
Gale Sayers, the dazzling and elusive running back who entered the Pro FootballHall ofFamedespite the briefest of careers and whose fame extended far beyond the field for decades thanks to a friendship with a dying Chicago Bears teammate, has died. Hewas 77.
Nicknamed “The Kansas Comet” and considered among the best open-field runners the game has ever seen, Sayers died Wednesday, according to the Pro FootballHall of Fame.
Relatives of Sayers had said he was diagnosed with dementia. In March 2017, his wife, Ardythe, said she partly blamed his football career.
“Football fans know well Gale's many accomplishments on the field: a rare combination of speed and power as the game's most electrifying runner, a dangerous kick returner, his comeback from a serious knee injury to lead the league in rushing, and becoming the youngest player inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame,” Bears chairman George McCaskey said in a statement. “People who weren't even football fans came to know Gale through the TV movie B`rian's Song,' about his friendship with teammate Brian Piccolo. Fifty years later, the movie's message that brotherhood and love needn't be defined by skin color still resonates.”
Sayers was a blur to NFL defenses, ghosting wouldbe tacklers or zooming by them like few running backs or kick returners before or since. Yet it was his rocksteady friendship with Piccolo, depicted in the film “Brian's Song,” that marked him as more than a sports star.
Sayers became a stockbroker, sports administrator, businessman and philanthropist for several inner-city Chicago youth initiatives after his pro football career was cut short by serious injuries to both knees.
“Gale was one of the finest men in NFL history and one of the game's most exciting players,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said .“Gale was an electrifying and elusive runner whothrilled fans every time he touched the ball. He earned his place as a firstballotHall of Famer.”
Sayers was a two-time All-American at Kansas and inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as well. He was selected by Chicago with the fourth pick overall in 1965, and his versatility produced dividends and highlight-reel slaloms through opposing defenses right from the start. He tied one NFL recordwith six touchdowns in a game and set another with 22 touchdowns in his first season: 14 rushing, six receiving, one punt and one kickoff return. Sayers was a unanimous choice for OffensiveRookie of theYear.
Sayers followed that by being voted an All-Pro dur
ing the first five of his seven NFL seasons (1965-71). But hewas stuck on a handful of middling- to- bad Bears teams and, like DickButkus, anotherHall of Fame teammate selected in the same 1965 draft, he never played in the postseason. Sayers appeared in only 68 games total and just two in each of his final two seasons while attempting to return from those knee injuries.
In 1977, at age 34, Sayers became the youngest player inducted into the Hall of Fame. In presenting him at the ceremony, Bears founder George Hal as said :“If you wish to see perfection as a running back, you had best get a hold of a film of Gale Sayers. He was poetry in motion. His like will never be seen again.”
The friendship between Sayers and backfield mate Piccolo began in 1967, when the two became unlikely roommates. Sayers was Black and already a star; Piccolo was white and had worked hisway up fromthe practice squad. Early on, they were competing for playing time and carries.
But when the club dropped its policy of segregating players by race in hotel room assignments, they forged a bond. In 1968,
Piccolo helped Sayers through a tough rehab process while here covered from a torn ligament in his right knee. After Sayers returned the next season to become an All-Pro, he made sure his friend shared in the credit.
They became even closer after Piccolo pulled himself out of a game early in the 1969 season because of breathing difficulties and was diagnosed with cancer. That phase of their friendship was recounted first by Sayers in his autobiography, “I Am Third,” and then in the 1971 movie “Brian's Song.”
With actor Billy Dee Williams playing Sayers and James Caan in Piccolo's role, the made-for-TV movie was later released in theaters. Sayers stayed by Piccolo's side as the illness took its toll, donating blood and providing support. Just days before Piccolo's death age 26, Sayers received the George S. Halas Award for courage and said: “You flatter me by giving me this award, but I can tell you hereandnowthat I accept it for Brian Piccolo. I love Brian Piccolo and I'd like all of you to love him, too. Tonight, when you hit your knees, please ask God to love him.”