TrueStar Staff 
One thing about Chicagoans is they go super hard with support when it comes to our sports teams. And we do have A LOT of sports teams. Not to brag, but we have every pro-sports team that you can think of from two baseball teams all the way down to a soccer team. Unfortunately, the pandemic has made life weird for sports fans just as football season gets underway. Usually Chicago Bears fans would be preparing to gather for tailgating parties and ready to cheer in the stands at the famous Soldier Field, but this week Bears fans are mourning the loss of one of the greatest football players in history, Gale Sayers.
To set the record straight, Sayers from Wichita, KS, is way before our time. But Sayers’ performance as the 1st round 4th overall draft pick as running back for the Chicago Bears should be something aspiring pro football players consider taking a few notes from. Over his seven-year career he averaged 66 games, 991 rushing attempts, 4,956 rushing yards, 5.0 rushing yards per attempt, and 39 touchdowns. To you youngins those stats may not seem like alot, but to be honest, back in the late 60s, they played only 14 games. The year 1965 was his debut season and he legit showed out. Sayers’ “superstar” moment happened during his 13th game on December 12,1965. The Bears were going toe-to-toe with the San Francisco 49ers. Sayers scored SIX WHOLE TOUCHDOWNS THAT GAME! That year he won Rookie of the Year.
At 22 years old, Sayers was the youngest person drafted to the league until 2007 when Amobi Okoye was drafted by the Houston Texans at 19 years old. Sayers’ career was short-lived because of multiple injuries. He obtained several awards and was inducted into the Football Hall of Fame in 1977. At only 34 he made history by becoming the youngest inductee. On November 30, 1971, Brian’s Song–a movie about the friendship between Sayers and his fellow rookie running back Brian Piccolo–debuted. Piccolo passed away from cancer in 1970. The movie, starring Billy Dee Williams as Sayers, is considered a classic.
After becoming a football legend, Sayers spent eight years in college athletics working at the University of Kansas and Southern Illinois University. In 1981 Sayers and his wife Linda started Sayers and Sayers Enterprises, a specialized sports marketing and public relations firm. Later, in ‘84, the couple founded a computer supplies firm called Crest Computer Supply Company in Chicago. The company, later renamed Sayers Computer Source, eventually evolved into the Sayers Group LLC, a provider of national technology solutions with an annual revenue of more than $300 million. In 1999 Sayers was inducted into the Chicago Area Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame and also named an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year.
On September 23 Sayers passed away from complications of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, according to the New York Times. He was 77 years old.
By Brenae Scott, Alcorn State University Alumni
Instagram@ iam_illinoize
