Ringside Report Remembers NFL Football Legend Gale Sayers (1943-2020)

By Larry Daniels

Yesterday, September 23rd 2020, marked the passing of Gale Sayers, one of the greatest football players in NFL history. All of us at Ringside Report send our deepest condolences to Gale’s family and friends. He is survived by his wife Ardythe, and a total of six children from two marriages. He had been diagnosed with Dementia since 2013. Ardythe had stated that a Mayo Clinic Doctor confirmed it was likely caused by his football career in 2017.

Gale Sayers was a two-time consensus All-American at the University of Kansas, earning the nickname, “Kansas Comet.” He totaled 4,020 all purpose yards over three seasons. His top speed in the hundred yard dash was 9.7. Gale set a Nebraska state record in the long jump with a leap of 24 ft., 10-½ inches as a senior in 1961 for Omaha Central High School.

As a sophomore in 1962, his first year on the varsity team, Sayers led the Big Eight Conference and was third in the nation with 1,125 rushing yards. His 7.1 yards per-carry average was the highest of any player in the NCAA that season for The Jayhawks. Against Oklahoma State, he carried the ball 21 times for a conference single game record 283 yards to lead Kansas to a 36-17 comeback victory. In 1963, Sayers sent an NCAA Division 1 FBS record with a 99-yard run against Nebraska.

In 1965, Gale Sayers was drafted in the first round by the Chicago Bears of the NFL, and the Kansas City Chiefs of the AFL . After a family decision, Gale chose Chicago to start his professional career. In his rookie year, Sayers scored a then NFL record 22 touchdowns. In a jaw-dropping display of his immense talent, Gale scored six touchdowns against the San Francisco 49ers on a field covered with mud on December 12th. In the video replay, you could see Gale making cuts no one else could make. In the open field, you would often see Sayers hold the football out away from his body, like a bird taking flight from the water. “Just give me 18 inches of daylight. That’s all I need,” Sayers was quoted as saying.

In a shortened career that was hampered by knee injuries, Gale Sayers was inducted to the National League Football Hall of Fame at age 34 in 1977. The youngest ever to achieve that feat. Even though his career only lasted about five years, Gale is generally regarded as one of the greatest players in football history.

The 1971 made for TV movie, “Brian’s Song” was based on Gale Sayers’ account of his friendship with Brian Piccolo, based on his 1970 autobiography, I Am Third. Brian Piccolo, played by James Caan in the movie, develops a friendship with Gale Sayers, played by Billy Dee Williams. The two Chicago Bears become roommates, which is actually the first time in NFL history that interracial players had done so. As Piccolo loses weight, and his on-field performance declines, he is sent to the hospital for a diagnosis. Papa George Halas tells Sayers that Piccolo has cancer and will have part of his lung removed. After a game against the St Louis Cardinals, Sayers discovers that Piccolo has to have another surgery for his tumor. After Gale is awarded the George S. Halas Most Courageous Player Award, Sayers dedicates his award to Piccolo, telling the crowd that they had selected the wrong person for the prize and saying, “I love Brian Piccolo, and I’d like all of you to love him, too. And tonight, when you hit your knees, please ask God to love him.” In a call, Sayers mentions that he gave Piccolo a pint of blood while he was in critical condition.

Piccolo dies with his wife by his side.

In my elementary school, we crowded into our gymnasium and watched this movie together. I was in third grade when I saw it. It was the first time in my life I was together with a large group of people crying. In my view, it broke boundaries of perceptions for how different races should behave toward one another.

Heaven has a Chicago Bear who was much more than a football player. A kind human being who taught us a lesson we still struggle with today. Rest In Power #40.

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