Gale Sayers | Encyclopedia.com (2024)

1943-

American football player

Knee injuries cut short the brilliant football career of running back Gale Sayers, but not before the "Kansas Comet" was recognized by the National Football League (NFL) as the greatest running back in the first 50 years of the league's history. Although he played only 68 games in professional football, in 1977 Sayers, at the age of only 34, became the youngest player ever to be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Honored as the NFL's Most Valuable Player in 1967, 1968, and 1970, Sayers in 1965 became the NFL's all-time leading scorer in a single season with 22 touchdowns and retired from the game with a career gain of 6,213 yards. As well as he was known for his accomplishments on the football field, Sayers is remembered by many for his friendship with fellow running back Brian Piccolo, a relationship memorialized in two memorable

made-for-television movies (the first in 1971, the remake in 2001). For many, Sayers's unwavering love and support for Piccolo during the latter's losing battle with cancer defined the essence of true friendship in its purest form.

Born in Wichita, Kansas

He was born Gale Eugene Sayers in Wichita, Kansas, on May 30, 1943. The second of three sons of Roger Winfield (an auto mechanic and car polisher) and Bernice (Ross) Sayers (a homemaker), Sayers owes his first name to his mother who was hoping her second child would be a girl she planned to name Gail. When she had a son instead, the name was retained but with a spelling modification. Sayers's father worked as a mechanic for the Goodyear Corporation in Wichita but in 1950 moved the family to his ailing father's wheat farm in Speed, Kansas. When Sayers's grandfather died in 1951, the family moved to Omaha, Nebraska, where Sayers spent the remainder of his childhood. As a boy he showed a natural athletic ability and became involved in a number of sports both in and out of school.

Sayers began playing football in a midget football league soon after his arrival in Omaha, but his interest in the game really began to blossom during his years at Omaha's Central High School, where he played middle linebacker on the school's varsity team. In his senior year at Central, Sayers was named to both the All-Mid-westerm and All-American high school team. He also became a standout star in track and field, winning three gold medals in area competition. But football clearly was Sayers's first passion, and he was courted by dozens of top colleges interested in his gridiron skills. In the end, he decided to return to his native Kansas to play halfback for the University of Kansas Jayhawks. Before heading off to college, Sayers became engaged to his high school sweetheart, Linda Lou McNeil.

Overwhelmed by Academic Demands

An undistinguished scholar in high school, Sayers was clearly overwhelmed by the academic demands of college. Although he continued to shine on the football field, Sayers did poorly in the classroom during his freshman year, failing English and getting dangerously low grades in most of his other courses. Because of his disappointing academic performance, Sayers was forced to enroll in summer school between his freshman and sophom*ore years at Kansas. He got a little help with his homework from new wife Linda, whom he married shortly after the end of the spring semester. (The couple later divorced.)

With his academic situation stabilized somewhat, Sayers turned in an amazing performance on the football field during his sophom*ore year, rushing for 1,125 yards and averaging 7.2 yards per carry. He turned in creditable stats during his junior year, rushing for 941 yards, as well as his senior year, rushing for 678 yards, and earning All-American honors after both seasons. With a Big Eight Conference career record of 2,675 yards rushing, Sayers had truly earned his nickname of the "Kansas Comet."

Academically, Sayers finally hit his stride during his senior year at Kansas, maintaining a B average during the fall semester. With the end of the football season, however, he began to focus almost single-mindedly on a career in pro football, entertaining offers from teams in both the NFL and the rival American Football League, which was later to become the American Football Conference within the NFL. His interest in school waned, and Sayers failed to complete all the credits needed to earn his bachelor's degree. In the NFL draft of 1965, he was drafted in the first round by the Chicago Bears of the NFL. Sayers himself negotiated a four-year contract with the Bears that paid him $25,000 a season and included a signing bonus of $50,000.

Named NFL's Rookie of the Year

Sayers made a spectacular debut in pro football, rushing for a total of 867 yards and 22 touchdowns during his rookie season. His outstanding performance earned Sayers Rookie of the Year honors as well as the NFL's scoring title for the year. The high point of Sayers's rookie season with the Bears came in a game against the San Francisco 49ers on December 12, 1965, when the running back rushed for six touchdowns on a cold and muddy football field in Chicago. He single-handedly gained 316 yards and scored 36 points, prompting teammate Mike Ditka to tell the NFL Insider: "Yeah, the mud affected the kid. If it had been dry out there, he would've scored 10 touchdowns." The rookie also managed to win a trip to the Pro Bowl.

As if to prove that his rookie season was no fluke, Sayers came back with a vengeance in 1966, rushing for a total of 1,231 yards to lead the league. Averaging 5.4 yards per rushing attempt, Sayers was once again selected to play in the Pro Bowl. The following year, he again earned All-Pro honors, rushing for 880 yards. Sayers also began to lay the groundwork for a life after football, taking a job as a stockbroker in Chicago during the off-season. In addition, he began to take a more active role in civic and humanitarian affairs, focusing particularly on programs to benefit underprivileged children.

Chronology

Related Biography: Football Player Brian Piccolo

Brian Piccolo, one of Sayers's closest friends and the subject of the made-for-television movie Brian's Song, was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, on October 21, 1943. As a young child, he moved with his family to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where he attended high school, participating in a number of sports. But football was his first love, and after high school, he attended Wake Forest University in North Carolina on a football scholarship. As a senior at Wake Forest, he led the nation in rushing but nevertheless failed to get picked at the NFL's 1965 draft. Legendary Chicago Bears owner and coach George Halas stepped in and signed Piccolo as a free agent.

Although he now wore a Bears uniform, Piccolo spent the 1965 football season on the team's practice squad and saw no real action. Although he played in all 14 games of the 1966 season, he rushed for only 12 yards on three carries. The following year, Piccolo gained a total of 317 yards. His big break came in 1968 when Sayers, already a close friend of Piccolo's, injured his knee in the ninth game of the season, putting him out of commission for the rest of the year. For the 1968 season as a whole, Piccolo rushed for 450 yards and scored his first two touchdowns in the NFL.

Just as his football career appeared ready to take off in a big way, a physical exam and follow-up tests in 1969 revealed that Piccolo had a rare form of lung cancer. In the months that followed, Sayers grew even closer to Piccolo, providing all the support he could during this difficult period. Piccolo died on June 16, 1970.

It was also during this period that his friendship with fellow running back Brian Piccolo began to grow stronger. It was in many respects a very unusual friend-ship indeed. Both men played the same position, which most often fuels rivalry rather than friendship. Sayers was African American and Piccolo was white. In 1967 the two roomed together during a preseason training camp in Alabama. Although they lived and practiced together, they could not go out in public and eat a meal comfortably during a period when the barriers of racial segregation had yet to be fully dismantled. When Piccolo was diagnosed with lung cancer in the fall of 1969, the bonds of friendship between the two men grew even stronger. Sayers was a pallbearer at Piccolo's funeral after his friend died on June 16, 1970.

Suffers Serious Knee Injury

During the 1968 season Sayers suffered his first serious knee injury. In a game against the 49ers, the running back was hit so hard that his knee was badly twisted, tearing ligaments and ending his season prematurely. Although he played only nine games in 1968, Sayers managed to rush for a very respectable total of 856 yards, averaging 6.2 yards per carry. Because of his knee injury, Sayers was forced to undergo extensive surgery and a lengthy period of physical rehabilitation. Although he was back for the beginning of the Bears' 1969 season, he was forced to start very slowly. The uncharacteristically conservative nature of Sayers's early play in 1969 gave rise to rumors that the running back was washed up. Despite the slow start, Sayers ended the season as the NFL's leading rusher, having piled up a total of 1,032 yards.

At the end of the 1969 season, Sayers was honored with the George Halas Award as "the most courageous player in professional football." When he was presented with the award at the annual dinner of the Professional Football Writers, he dedicated the award to Piccolo, saying: "You flatter me by giving me this award, but I can tell you here and now that I accept it for Brian Piccolo. Brian Piccolo is the man of courage who should receive the George S. Halas award. Mine is tonight; it is Brian Piccolo's tomorrow.… 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."

Tears Ligament in Left Knee

In a preseason exhibition game in 1970, Sayers suffered a torn ligament in his left knee. Although he underwent surgery to repair the damage, his knee was never again the same. Despite the injury and subsequent surgery, Sayers managed to play two games during the regular season, but he was unable to maneuver with the same agility and speed for which he would become famous. He finished the season with only 52 yards on 23 carries, averaging 2.3 yards per carry. He underwent two more surgeries over the next several months and even had his leg put in a cast, but it was all to no avail. In the two games he played during the 1971 season, Sayers rushed for only 38 yards on 13 carries, gaining an average of 2.9 yards per carry.

The writing was on the wall and could no longer be ignored. At the beginning of 1972 season, Sayers announced his retirement from professional football. He did not stray far from the game, however. He worked for a while as a football analyst for CBS Sports. Then in 1973 he went back to his old alma mater, the University of Kansas, to work as assistant athletic director. He also became director of the Williams Educational Fund, the principal fund-raising organization for University of Kansas athletic programs. Sayers (who had earlier been divorced from his first wife, Linda) married Ardythe Elaine Bullard on December 1, 1973. In 1976 he left Kansas to take over as athletic director at Southern Illinois University.

Career Statistics

Enshrined in Pro Football Hall of Fame

In 1977 Sayers became the youngest player ever to be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. In his acceptance speech, Sayers looked back on the road he had traveled to football success: "God gave me a great gift and I had a lot of help developing for this occasion. Reaching this point, however, is not as important as striving to get here. This is true in all professions and all of life's activities. There are doctors, lawyers, schoolteachers, plumbers all who strive to do their very best with their abilities. We hear a lot today about how the American people have lost their dedication to excellence. I don't believe that is true. Each of us excels at different things, sometimes in areas that are only a hobby, more often in our life vocation. The most important thing, however, is to strive to do our very best. Nothing is more of a waste than unrealized potential." That same year the running back also was voted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

After five years as athletic director at Southern Illinois, Sayers and his wife Ardythe in 1981 returned to the Chicago area, where they continue to live today. From his two marriages Sayers has a total of six children: one daughter and five sons.

It has been more than three decades since Sayers left professional football. Many of his records have fallen by the wayside in the intervening years. But no amount of time will erase the brilliance of the running back's short but memorable career. Of Sayers's injury-shortened football career, Pulitzer Prize-winning sportswriter Red Smith later told ESPN: "His days at the top of his game were numbered, but there was a magic about him that still sets him apart from the other great running backs in pro football. He wasn't a bruiser like Jim Brown , but he could slice through the middle like a warm knife through butter, and when he took a pitchout and peeled around the corner, he was the most exciting thing in pro football."

CONTACT INFORMATION

Address: c/o Sayers Group, 1150 Freehanville Dr., Mt. Prospect, IL 60056. Phone: (847) 391-4040. Email: [emailprotected]. Online: http://www.sayers.com.

SELECTED WRITINGS BY SAYERS:

(With Al Silverman) I Am Third, New York: Viking Press, 1970.

Awards and Accomplishments

(With Bob Griese) Offensive Football. New York: Atheneum, 1972.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Books

"Gale Sayers." Contemporary Black Biography, Volume 28. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale Group, 2001.

"Gale Sayers." Encyclopedia of World Biography Supplement, Volume 21. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale Group, 2001.

Periodicals

Hill, Michael E. "'Brian's Song': ABC Adds a Few Notes to a Classic." Washington Post (December 2, 2001): Y6.

Other

"Brian Piccolo, Bears Running Back, 1965-1969." BearsHistory.com. http://www.geocities.com/dipiccolo41/piccolo.html (November 30, 2002).

"Gale Sayers: Bio." Pro Football Hall of Fame. http://www.profootballhof.com/players/enshrinees/gsayers.cfm (November 29, 2002).

"'Kansas Comet' Disappeared Too Quickly." Pro Football Hall of Fame. http://www.profootballhof.com/players/mainpage.cfm?cont_id=26423 (November 29, 2002).

"Meet Gale." Sayers Group. http://www.sayers.com/galebio.cfm (November 30, 2002).

Roberts, M. B. "Fame Couldn't Wait for Sayers." ESPN.com. http://espn.go.com/sportscentury/features/00016460.html (January 29, 2003).

Sketch by Don Amerman

Where Is He Now?

Sayers, one of football's most outstanding running backs of all time, is making history of a different sort these days. After becoming a football legend in only 68 games, Sayers spent about eight years in college athletics, working first as assistant athletic director at the University of Kansas and then as athletic director at Southern Illinois University. In 1981 Sayers, with the help of his wife, decided to go into business for himself in the Chicago area. His first venture, Sayers and Sayers Enterprises, specialized in sports marketing and public relations. In 1984 the Sayers founded a computer supplies firm called Crest Computer Supply Company. The company, later renamed Sayers Computer Source, eventually evolved into the Sayers Group LLC, a provider of national technology solutions with annual revenue of more than $300 million. Sayers in 1999 was inducted into the Chicago Area Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame and also named an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year.