Gale Sayers walks into the Lincoln-Douglas Ballroom of the Sangamo Club with a slight limp — six knee surgeries will do that — looking like a guy getting ready for another football game.
He doesn’t look 64 years old — can Gale Sayers really be 64? — and he looks 25 pounds lighter than the listed 200 pounds he came into the NFL at in 1965.
Yes, he looks like he’s in great shape.
“I am, and if you give me $10 million, I’ll go out there and play for you,” Sayers says as laughter rolls throughout the room.
The former Chicago Bears running back was in town Thursday as the featured speaker at the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine’s “Men’s Night Out.” Health issues have been a big part of Sayers’ life — the devastating right knee injury he suffered in 1968, the left knee injury he suffered in 1970 that ended his Hall of Fame career prematurely as well as the death of his teammate and friend Brian Piccolo from cancer made famous by the movie “Brian’s Song” — and they continue to be a big part of his life.
But now Sayers is campaigning for better benefits for those former NFL players who gave life and limb — literally — for the game.
On Sept. 18, Sayers joined former teammate Mike Ditka and other ex-NFL players in Washington, D.C. They appeared before the U.S. Senate’s Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee and made an impassioned plea for improved pension benefits for former players now disabled because of the injuries they suffered while playing the game.
“I was in Washington a couple weeks ago with Mike and testifying before the Senate, and I really believe that Commissioner (Roger) Goodell and Gene Upshaw (executive director of the NFL Players Association) got the message from the senators,” Sayers said. “These people, they know football. They’re football fans. And they said, (to) both Gene and Commissioner Goodell, if you don’t fix this, we’re going to fix it and you don’t want us to be messing with your product.
“I think they got the message, and I really feel there will be some changes in the system the way it is now.”
Sayers’ top salary as a player was $50,000 for a season. Over an eight-year NFL career during which he earned Rookie of the Year honors and gained 4,956 rushing yards, Sayers said he earned $275,000.
“These players made $5,000 $10,000 $15,000, $20,000 a year, but they kept this game going so these players of today can make $5, $10, $15 million a year,” Sayers said. “These players are broken down and beat up, and we can’t help these players? It’s a shame that this business is a $7 billion business and we can’t help these players live out a productive life.
“When I ask somebody, ‘Do you know who Jim Brown was’ and they say ‘No,’ or, ‘Do you know who Dick Butkus was, or Lenny Moore or Johnny Unitas,’ and they say, ‘No’ . . . that’s a shame. If you don’t know the history of your game, that’s like not knowing the history of the black race or your ancestors. These people hung in there and made this game so you can make the money you’re making today.
“I think the senators, they told them that. Help these players because you are the caretakers of today but these people are the ones who built the game for you to be the caretakers.”
But Sayers says this isn’t about him. He has taken care of business. In 1970, he took classes at the University of New York to become a stockbroker, and he became the first African-American stockbroker in his company’s history. He has two degrees from his alma mater, Kansas. He served as the athletic director at Southern Illinois-Carbondale. Now he’s got his own successful computer business and spends as many as 15 days a month on the road.
“I’m not politicking for Gale Sayers,” he says. “I don’t need it. I’m there for the players that do need the help.
“I’ve got some injuries that hurt at times, but I can play 18 holes of golf, I can walk that if I want to. I’m OK. I don’t concern myself with my injuries.
“It’s unbelievable some of these players, the trouble they’re in today. It’s sad. It really is.”
As the youngest player ever elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Sayers made the most of a playing career that spanned just 1965-71. But he never suffered the fallen idol syndrome many top athletes endure.
“I prepared to play the game, and during the offseason, I prepared to quit,” Sayers said. “I became a broker. I got two degrees from the University of Kansas.
“When I retired, I knew what I wanted to do and I did it. I didn’t have to look back. I didn’t look back one time when I left the game because I knew I was going to do some other things in my life. It worked out well for me. And for some other players, it hasn’t worked that well.
“A lot of players, they think they’re going to play 10, 15 years. The average life of a football player today is 31⁄2 years. You can’t make enough money in 31⁄2 years to last you a lifetime. You have to do something else. A lot of players, they didn’t. They didn’t get their degree. They left university after their junior year, or their senior year without a degree.”
And now Gale Sayers is trying to make their lives better.
Jim Ruppert can be reached at 217-788-1549 or jim.ruppert@sj-r.com.
