Tuesday, May 8, Gayle Sayers Spoke at a dinner to benefit the Lancaster Catholic High School athletic department at the Eden Resort.
Gayle Sayers’ NFL career was brilliant but short. Mr. Sayers told a local banquet audience how to to be ready for what comes next by being flexible, and being prepared for what comes next. "I went back to the University of Kansas and got two degrees, an undergrad and a master's," he said. "When I walked off the field for the last time, I knew what I wanted to do next." He became a stockbroker, then assistant athletic director at the University of Kansas, then AD at Southern Illinois University. In 1984 he launched a company that sells computer hardware and software to Fortune 500 companies. He's been living in Chicago and doing business and charity work since.

Sayers is perhaps best known today as the co-star character in the TV movie "Brian's Song," an iconic tear-jerker about his friendship with Bears teammate Brian Piccolo, who died of cancer in 1970. Sayers was played by Billy Dee Willliams, Piccolo by James Caan. The movie was based on portions of Sayers' autobiography, "I Am Third." As a player, Sayers has been forgotten too easily, because knee injuries made his time on center stage short. He played less than four full seasons, and only 68 NFL games.

Mike Gross, Sports Writer
Sunday News