what did gale sayers die of

KANSAS CITY, Mo. "Gale was an electrifying and elusive runner who thrilled fans every time he touched the ball," added Goodell, noting that "we will also forever remember Gale for his inspiration and kindness. Named to the NFL's 75th Anniversary Team in 1994, the former first round draft pick is the only athlete to earn inclusion at multiple positions, being recognized for both his prowess as a running back and returner. Especially a great player like Gale.” Sayers exonerated Alexander. Selected to four Pro Bowl squads, Sayers was named MVP of the league's all-star game three times, joining quarterback Johnny Unitas as the only players to win three Pro Bowl MVP awards. World News. "All those who loved the … Gale Sayers burst upon the pro football scene in 1965 with the kind of impact that the sport had not felt in many years. (CNN) NFL legend Gale Sayers has died at the age of 77. In his 1970 autobiography I Am Third,Sayers quoted an unidentified reporter who noted that even into his sophomore year, "[Sayers] was shy almost to the point of boorishness, completely inarticulate, [and] apprehensive about whether he was going to make it scholastically and as a football p… Getty. ", Sayers earned additional inclusion in the cultural zeitgeist as a central figure in the tear-jerking 1971 film "Brian's Song.". over the Kansas City Chiefs of the upstart American Football League in 1965. Piccolo died on June 16, 1970, at 26. Sent to the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, he underwent surgery to remove a malignant tumor, but doctors found that the disease had spread to other organs. But he reversed again, and I had an angle on him, but I couldn’t catch him.”, Sayers later likened his 59-yard touchdown run to a slapstick movie chase and claimed he had run past Bubba Smith, the huge Baltimore defender, three separate times. “Sayers is the greatest halfback I ever saw,” an N.F.L. Sayers being introduced to the crowd before a game in 2010 at Soldier Field in Chicago. In 1977, he was the youngest player to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. -- Relatives of Pro Football Hall of Famer Gale Sayers say the Chicago Bears legend has been diagnosed with dementia. A mini biography including over a dozen facts about the life and death of Chicago Bears Gale Sayers, both on and off the football field. NFL icon Gale Sayers has died at the age of 77, the Pro Football Hall of Fame announced Wednesday. I was two or three feet from him. Bears legend Gale Sayers dies at 77 following a battle with dementia. Fifty years ago on May 25, 1970, Gale Sayers accepted the George S. Halas Award at a dinner in New York City. He was known for his elusiveness and agility and was regarded by his peers as one of the most difficult players to tackle. Sayers began to suffer memory loss around 2013 and was examined at the Mayo Clinic. Though his career was cut short by injuries, he was regarded as one of the N.F.L.’s greatest players. He was 77 years old. Iconic Bears head coach George Halas presented Sayers for his Hall of Fame induction in 1977, saying of the runner "if you want to see perfection as a running back, you best get a hold of a film of Gale Sayers. “He was running off tackle, and I was the safety and came up to fill the hole. They had been active in the Ardythe and Gale Sayers Center for African American Adoption, part of The Cradle, an adoption center in Evanston, Ill. (His son Scott was adopted.). Billy Dee Williams played Sayers and James Caan was Brian Piccolo in “Brian’s Song,” the Emmy Award-winning 1971 television movie about their friendship. The family moved from Kansas to Omaha, where as a high school standout Gale received, by his account, 75 college scholarship offers before choosing the University of Kansas. He was a stockbroker for a time after he retired from football. official said. Sayers was already a legend in 1967 after two pro seasons, when Rick Volk, a safety from the University of Michigan, tried to defend against him while a college all-star team was training at the Bears’ camp. Gale Sayers was married to his wife Ardythe Bullard from 1973 until his death in September 2020. "It wasn't so much getting hit in the head," she said of what a Mayo Clinic doctor confirmed to her in 2017. An injury to his left knee held Sayers to only two games in both 1970 and 1971. “He was amazing,” Volk recalled in 2017. But that November Piccolo was found to have embryonic cell carcinoma of the lungs. Sayers called it “the greatest run of my professional football career.”, Asked to describe his strategies and techniques, Sayers told Sports Illustrated in 1965: “I have no idea what I do. Gale continues to suffer from dementia and struggles to communicate and recognize people. As you can see from this interview we did in 2016, the #KansasComet never lost his competitive fire. At 34, Sayers became the youngest player ever inducted into the Hall of Fame. He was so quick.”, Another meeting came in 1968 after Volk was established with the Baltimore Colts. “God, you never want to hurt a player, never. Based upon Sayers' autobiography "I Am Third," the movie details the friendship between Sayers, played by Billy Dee Williams, and teammate Brian Piccolo, portrayed by James Caan, as the latter succumbs to embryonal cell carcinoma at the age of 26. Suddenly a KU sophomore, Gale Sayers, erupts into a ground-gobbling cyclone, churning and spinning his way to a record-setting 283 yards in 21 carries, including a 96-yard touchdown run. Limited by injuries during his final two NFL campaigns, Sayers' 4,956 rushing yards and 39 rushing TD's came mostly during the five seasons from 1965-1969. Sayers was a pallbearer at his funeral. Hall of Fame running back Gale Sayers has died at the age of 77, the Pro Football Hall of Fame announced on Wednesday morning. In his first heavy pre-season action, he raced 77 yards on a punt return, 93 yards on a kickoff return, and then startled everyone with a 25-yard scoring pass against the Los Angeles Rams. NFL legend Gale Sayers dies at 77 01:36. Former Chicago Bears running back Gale Sayers has died. He was previously married to his first wife Linda McNeil from 1962–1973. What happened to Gayle Sayers? Sayers' family announced in … Sayers in 1967, when he joined a brokerage firm’s training program. Prior to joining the league in 1965, Sayers was a three-year superstar at the University of Kansas, amassing a Big Eight Conference-record 4,020 all-purpose yards and earning the nickname the "Kansas Comet.". He was not just a Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, but was also immortalized on screen, where he was portrayed by Billy Dee Williams in the 1971 made-for-TV movie ‘Brian’s Song.’. When the player moved, Alexander crashed into Sayers’s right knee. Updated 2026 GMT (0426 HKT) September 23, 2020. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame the same year. Gale Sayers Wife. In his acceptance speech, he said: “I love Brian Piccolo. Gale Sayers Dies; Elusive Hall of Fame Running Back Was 77. Sayers, who was Black, was paired with his backup, Brian Piccolo, who was white — apparently the first time a Black and white player had shared a hotel room for an N.F.L. In March 2017, his family revealed that Sayers had dementia after he had publicly displayed symptoms of it for four years. And we’re going to talk about his life with sports journalist Kevin Blackistone, also a professor at the University of Maryland. He played three varsity seasons there — 1962, ’63 and ’64 — and was a consensus all-American selection in his two final seasons. Updated 4:26 PM ET, Wed September 23, 2020. By Associated Press , Wire Service Content Sept. 23, 2020 Sayers passed away Wednesday at the age of 77. Sayers' jersey numbers at Kansas (48) and with the Bears (40) have both been retired by the respective programs. The family decided to address his condition publicly in March 2017. After his playing career ended, Sayers briefly worked as a television commentator and stockbroker and then for his alma mater, Kansas. Chicago Bears legendary running back Gale Sayers has died at 77 , the Pro Football Hall of Fame announced Wednesday morning. It became the basis of the hugely successful “Brian’s Song,” with Billy Dee Williams playing Sayers and James Caan as Piccolo. But 1969 became a somber season. His short seven-season career was cut short by injuries to both knees, but not before twice leading the league in rushing and earning five first-team All-Pro selections. In addition to his stepson Guy, he is also survived by a daughter, Gale Lynne, and two sons, Timothy and Scott, from his first marriage; two other stepsons, Gaylon and Gary; two brothers, Roger, a former track and field star, and Ron, who played eight games as a running back for the San Diego Chargers in the N.F.L. Gale Sayers Death. Though his career was cut short by knee injuries, “Sayers is the greatest halfback I ever saw,” Ernie Accorsi, who was general manager of three National Football League teams, wrote in an email in 2017. He was 77. Gale Sayers dies FILE - In this Oct. 27, 1969, file photo, Chicago Bears running back Gale Sayers (40) runs for a 28-yard gain against the Los Angeles Rams, in Chicago, Ill. Hall of Famer Gale Sayers, who made his mark as one of the NFL’s best all-purpose running backs and was later celebrated for his enduring friendship with a Chicago Bears teammate with cancer, has died. One of the most explosive and talented football players in professional football history, Sayers was limited to just seven seasons with the Chicago Bears due to injuries and barely even played in the final two. Sayers’s account of his friendship with Piccolo became the basis of the TV movie “Brian’s Song.”. He was 77. Gale didn't die from cancer. “I never saw anyone who could be at full speed, stop on a dime and, in one step acceleration, be at top speed again,” Accorsi said. He died on September 23, 2020, due to complications in dementia and Alzheimer and these both the diseases are linked with the brain and its malfunction. Sayers in action against the Green Bay Packers in 1967. Years later, Sayers noted that nobody on the Bears’ bench had known that he had tied the record when the venerable coach George Halas sat him down and sent in subs with the game clinched. "It's just the shaking of the brain when they took him down with the force they play the game in. It’s just the shaking of the brain when they took him down with the force they play the game in.”, Gale Sayers Dies; Elusive Hall of Fame Running Back Was 77, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/23/sports/football/gale-sayers-dead.html. He made a couple of moves — whoo-hoo! Gale Sayers, the great running back, spoke from the heart about his friend and fellow Bears RB Brian Piccolo. Gale passed away on September 23, 2020 at the age of 77 in Wakarusa, Indiana, USA. An elite athlete buoyed by blazing speed, Sayers was equally as devastating as a kick-returner as he was out of the backfield, tallying more than 3,000 return yards and eight return TD's. Gale Sayers, the will-o’-the-wisp running back who in a short but brilliant career with the Chicago Bears left opponents, as they used to say, clutching at air, died early on Wednesday at his home in Wakarusa, Ind. He died on September 23, 2020, in Wakarusa, Indiana. No pro player has scored six touchdowns since. (A lesser remake, with Mekhi Phifer and Sean Maher, was broadcast in 2001.). Gale Sayers, the dazzling Chicago Bears running back and kick returner whose injury-shortened career made him the youngest player inducted into the Pro Football Hall of … team for a front-office job but never received an interview — a source of sadness for him, according to friends. He joins a growing list of football players who developed dementia and died of brain damage. His six-touchdown day as a rookie was one of the greatest displays of offense by a single player in football history, matching a feat accomplished by two earlier players. Hall of Famer Gale Sayers, who made his mark as one of the NFL's best all-purpose running backs and was later celebrated for his enduring friendship with a … Gale Sayers has died due to complications from dementia and Alzheimer’s disease at the age of 77. “It’s gone,” Sayers told Alexander, who stayed to comfort him. Rebuilt by the knee surgery of the time, Sayers returned in 1969 to lead the league with 236 carries for 1,032 yards and was named the N.F.L. He was 77. general manager of three National Football League teams, Ardythe and Gale Sayers Center for African American Adoption. Though his career was cut short by injuries, he was regarded as one of the N.F.L.’s greatest players. players like Paul Hornung of the Green Bay Packers, Paul Warfield of the Cleveland Browns and Earl Campbell of the Houston Oilers. 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