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RIP Gayle Sayers


A great football player. My parents were at the 1963 Kansas game where he ripped off the 99 run against the Huskers.
 
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What a dynamic human being, and a pretty good football player too . We moved from Lincoln to Chicago and as a kid, pops got me a hook up through his work (He worked in Deerfield which was the Bears training ground at the time). This included a meet and greet with Brian Piccolo and Gale Sayers along with an autographed b/w 5x7 photo of each. Little did I know as a snotty nosed 5 yo how awesome that was. Over time, I certainly came to realize just how cool that really was.
I became a Bears fan from that moment.
#DaBears
 
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Prairie Sage said:
A great football player. My parents were at the 1963 Kansas game where he ripped of the 99 run against the Huskers.
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Great player. I was at that game in the student section on the goal line where the play began. The play was to the west sideline. I could see early on that if he got around the corner, there was little defense left. And bam, he was gone. KU missed the extra point and was still down 10-9. Final was 23-9. (I had to look that up). Sayers was 0-3 against the Huskers. He was going to NU but changed his mind at the last moment. Had he gone to NU, the Huskers might have gone undefeated all 3 years Sayers played in Big 8. Certainly would not have lost that one game in 1963 to Air Force.
 
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I competed against Gale and his brother Roger (aka "Rocket Roger"). I witnessed, up close and personal, his wonderful grace and ability both on the football field and also in track as a champion hurdler and also when he had the longest broad jump in the nation his senior year at 24'10 1/2". He and Bobby Williams of Lincoln High had never competed in that event until their senior year but both coaches new they needed to somehow pick up more points to win the state champion ship that year. They held the broad jump at that time inside/under the stadium where the indoor track was, and the actual 'run up' to the broad jump was curved a little and not dead straight. Between the two of them and their 6 jumps I believe none were under 23' (remember, neither had ever competed in this event until 2 weeks prior at their district meets). Gale had just 1 final jump and was trailing Bobby Williams who had jumped around 23' 9" I believe. Gale's coach and my father who were friends talked to Gale and said they were going to drop a handkerchief at 24' as a target. What Gale didn't know is they dropped it at closer to 25' - so on Gale's last jump he ran down that curved path, hit the board and landed at 24' 10 1/2 " which gave them the points to win the state meet and ended up leading the nation in that event for the year 1961. His state record lasted until the early 2000's I believe - broken by Robert Rands of Bellevue I believe. Gale ran the 100 yard dash in around 9.8 but was an even better hurdler. The amazing thing is I think he also ran the 100 in 9.8 in a football uniform!! All I know is he had more than one gear when carrying the football and because he ran so gracefully, you never realized how fast he was running and just when you thought you were going to get to him, BAM! he shifted into another gear and was gone and you were left wondering how you had just lost your jockstrap! His death hits me and others who had the great honor of competing against him very hard and I know his death just took a piece of my heart out - I'm so thankful I can still close my eyes and see this wonderful man in motion. God Bless you Gale and thank you for such wonderful memories. JS
 



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