TRW
ASFN Addict
Great, great running back/returner. Sad to see so many of my football heroes from my youth passing away.
He was electric. R.I.P. Mr. Sayers.
He was electric. R.I.P. Mr. Sayers.
RIP: Gale Sayers (1943-2020)
- Thread starter TRW
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Ouchie-Z-Clown
I'm better than Mulli!
This year sucks
RIP
RIP
Great players.
Class all the way.
RIP Gale
Class all the way.
RIP Gale
Cardsmasochist
Full Throttle!!
RIP Mr. Sayers
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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Gale Sayers dies at 77
Former Bears running back Gale Sayers, an all-purpose tailback who took the league by storm as a rookie in 1965, has died. He was 77.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame announced Sayers’ passing.
On December 12, 1965, Sayers scored a single-game record six touchdowns in a game against the 49ers, with an 80-yard catch-and-run, four rushing touchdowns (including a 50-yarder), and an 85-yard punt return. He finished his rookie year with 22 touchdowns.
Sayers made it to the Hall of Fame despite playing only 68 regular-season games, due to knee injuries that shortened his career. As explained earlier this year, Sayers forever will be linked to Brian Piccolo, a teammate who died of cancer at 26. Their close friendship became the subject of Brian’s Song.
Former Bears running back Gale Sayers, an all-purpose tailback who took the league by storm as a rookie in 1965, has died. He was 77.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame announced Sayers’ passing.
On December 12, 1965, Sayers scored a single-game record six touchdowns in a game against the 49ers, with an 80-yard catch-and-run, four rushing touchdowns (including a 50-yarder), and an 85-yard punt return. He finished his rookie year with 22 touchdowns.
Sayers made it to the Hall of Fame despite playing only 68 regular-season games, due to knee injuries that shortened his career. As explained earlier this year, Sayers forever will be linked to Brian Piccolo, a teammate who died of cancer at 26. Their close friendship became the subject of Brian’s Song.
Yuma
Suns are my Kryptonite!
Great Player. Greater human being. I read his book I Am Third!
Great read I would recommend for anyone. There are newer versions!
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Great read I would recommend for anyone. There are newer versions!
WildBB
Yogi n da Bear
Yes, I read that growing up. Different time and still very much pertinent in today's society.
RIP Gale Sayers, the 'Kansas Comet'!
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jmt
ASFN Lifer
RIP. I remember listening on the radio with my dad to that 49er game in ‘65. Being Cardinal fans we hated da Bears (I still do) but knew Sayers was special.
What I always found most incredible about him was how he could just shift sideways to avoid a tackle and never lose any speed. RIP Mr. Sayers. What other team than the Bears could say they had two of the most electrifying running backs in NFL history in Gale Sayers and Walter Payton.
RIP Gale Sayers. As a young kid growing up in Illinois, I was just old enough to start following the Bears at the tale end of his career.
DemsMyBoys
ASFN Icon
I still have my copy.
This one hurts. Sayers was one of my first football heroes and it was because of the way he lived his life off the field.
And, yes, I cried like a baby at the end of “Brian’s Song”.
cardsfanmd
ASFN Icon
I mean, we had Leland McElroy and JJ Arrington
phillycard
ASFN Addict
First Larry and now Gale. Names that you say in reverence. RIP to both.
Osbern61
Insomniac
Best running back of all time IMHO, too bad his career was so short.
RIP
RIP
WildBB
Yogi n da Bear
Some pretty big football legends commenting here:
Athletic:
Sayers was an immediate sensation. In his first preseason game, he returned a punt 77 yards, he returned a kickoff 93 yards, and he threw a two-yard touchdown pass – with his left, non-dominant hand.
He was voted NFL rookie of the year after scoring 22 touchdowns, a league record at the time. At the end of the season, team owner George Halas gave Sayers a $10,000 bonus – unheard of for the tight-fisted visionary.
“I’ve never seen anyone with Gale’s agility,” Halas wrote in “Halas By Halas.” “No one ever caught him from behind.”
Against the Vikings in Sayers’ second season, he took back the opening kickoff 90 yards and racked up 339 all-purpose yards — still the most by a Bears player in any game. He scored four second-half touchdowns.
“Best show I’ve ever seen,” Vikings coach Norm Van Brocklin said.
Bears Hall of Famer George Connor worked as a television reporter and afterward found Sayers on the field.
“Was that game the highlight of your career?” Connor asked.
“Nope,” Sayers said, before dodging Connor as he had dodged Vikings defenders.
Sayers, always more expressive with moves than words, was correct in his curt response. The previous season Sayers had accumulated three fewer yards but scored six touchdowns in a game against the 49ers in what might have been not only his best game but the best game by anyone in the history of the league.
Hall of Famer Y.A. Tittle, a 49ers assistant at the time, was quoted by United Press International calling the performance “the most brilliant exhibition I’ve ever seen.” Halas called it “the greatest performance ever by one man on a football field.”
It was December, and the playing surface at Wrigley Field was more suited for farming pigs than playing football. No one seemed to be able to keep their footing – except Sayers.
There was a screen pass that he turned into an 80-yard touchdown. There was a punt return of 85 yards for a TD. He was given nine handoffs and scored on four of them. He caught two passes and scored on one. He averaged 12.6 yards per carry on nine rushing attempts.
Sayers almost assuredly would have had seven touchdowns if he had not been pulled from the offense in the fourth quarter because the score was so lopsided. His backup scored from two yards out. Still, Sayers nearly broke a return for another touchdown on the last play of the game.
Athletic:
Sayers was an immediate sensation. In his first preseason game, he returned a punt 77 yards, he returned a kickoff 93 yards, and he threw a two-yard touchdown pass – with his left, non-dominant hand.
He was voted NFL rookie of the year after scoring 22 touchdowns, a league record at the time. At the end of the season, team owner George Halas gave Sayers a $10,000 bonus – unheard of for the tight-fisted visionary.
“I’ve never seen anyone with Gale’s agility,” Halas wrote in “Halas By Halas.” “No one ever caught him from behind.”
Against the Vikings in Sayers’ second season, he took back the opening kickoff 90 yards and racked up 339 all-purpose yards — still the most by a Bears player in any game. He scored four second-half touchdowns.
“Best show I’ve ever seen,” Vikings coach Norm Van Brocklin said.
Bears Hall of Famer George Connor worked as a television reporter and afterward found Sayers on the field.
“Was that game the highlight of your career?” Connor asked.
“Nope,” Sayers said, before dodging Connor as he had dodged Vikings defenders.
Sayers, always more expressive with moves than words, was correct in his curt response. The previous season Sayers had accumulated three fewer yards but scored six touchdowns in a game against the 49ers in what might have been not only his best game but the best game by anyone in the history of the league.
Hall of Famer Y.A. Tittle, a 49ers assistant at the time, was quoted by United Press International calling the performance “the most brilliant exhibition I’ve ever seen.” Halas called it “the greatest performance ever by one man on a football field.”
It was December, and the playing surface at Wrigley Field was more suited for farming pigs than playing football. No one seemed to be able to keep their footing – except Sayers.
There was a screen pass that he turned into an 80-yard touchdown. There was a punt return of 85 yards for a TD. He was given nine handoffs and scored on four of them. He caught two passes and scored on one. He averaged 12.6 yards per carry on nine rushing attempts.
Sayers almost assuredly would have had seven touchdowns if he had not been pulled from the offense in the fourth quarter because the score was so lopsided. His backup scored from two yards out. Still, Sayers nearly broke a return for another touchdown on the last play of the game.
AZ Native
Living is Easy with Eyes Closed
68 games and a HOF'er. How is that even possible? It's because of the man he was, on and off the field. A Great Man.
TruColor
Trombonist in Roger Goodell's Wedding Rcpt.
I thought this was a nice clip...you can see Larry Wilson towards the end losing the battle in trying to catch Gale:
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When your team was playing him He was one player that you worried ANY time he touched the ball.
RIP Kansas Comet.
RIP Kansas Comet.
GatorAZ
feed hopkins
One of those athletes who would’ve been a stud regardless of generation.
