Gale Sayers

Highlights

He is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and is a legendary Chicago Bears running back; His #40 is retired by the Bears

Fee Range: $20,000 - $30,000

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Sayers, known as "The Kansas Comet", spent his entire NFL career  with the Chicago Bears. He was an impressive 2-time All-American player at the University of Kansas and it showed in the NFL.

He was NFL Rookie of the Year in 1965 and had the amazing feat of being the only rookie at the time to score six touchdowns in a game on route to scoring a record 22 touchdowns in his rookie year. In his second season, despite attempts of revamping defenses, Sayers led the league in rushing with 1,231 yards.

But in a game against the San Francisco 49ers in 1968, Sayers was chopped down after receiving a pitch and tore ligaments in his right knee, ending his season prematurely. Soon he had surgery and rehabilition and made a successful comeback. In the 1969 season he led the league in rushing once again, but he lacked the speed he once had.

Once again, in 1970, Sayers suffered another knee injury, this time with his left knee. During his off time, he took classes at the University of New York to become a stock broker and became the first black stock broker in his company's history. After another rehabilitation period, he tried for a comeback, but was not successful. He was encouraged to retire, due to his loss of speed.

Sayers retired from football during the 1971 campaign, and began a career as a CEO for a computer company. In 1977 he entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame and in 1994 he had his uniform number, 40, retired at Soldier Field in Chicago.

His friendship with teammate Brian Piccolo, and Piccolo's struggle with the cancer that would eventually result in his death, became the subject of the legendary made-for-TV movie Brian's Song. The movie, in which Sayers was portrayed by Billy Dee Williams in the original and by Mekhi Phifer in the remake, was adapted from Sayers' telling of this story in his 1971 autobiography I Am Third.

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