May have been the greatest running back of all time with a NFL career cut in half by injuries. Great human being!!!
RIP Gale Sayers
- Thread starter TJFant
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Brian's Song is one of my all time favorite movies.
He wrote a book called, I Am Third. I read it in high school (I graduated in 1986) and liked it very much.
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anon_i8nzeu2gbf0ba
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Jim Brown might dispute that. Gale Sayers was a great one and I'm sorry he has passed.
In the 1965 NFL draft Chicago had two first round picks. They chose RB Sayers from Kansas and LB Butkus from Illinois. You don't get many first rounds better than that.
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you forgot WALTER PAYTON he is the best back of all time
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Fantastic guy. Met him at a golf outing.
He gave a short talk which was great.
I’m glad he wasn’t. Such a special talent would have been horribly wasted on those awful teams.
Those 1963 and 1964 Kansas teams didn’t exactly light the world on fire either.
It’s been my experience from every Bears fan that got to see them both play that Sayers was better. They all compare him to Reggie Bush at USC in style but better
I watched many of Sayer’s games. It is always difficult to compare athletes from different eras. I believe Gale Sayers and Jim Brown were 2 that would be great in any era. No disrespect to Payton, Sanders, LaDameon, Thurman Thomas, OJ, Tony Dorset, Bo or many others—all great, but if I was starting a team and had first pick on 2 running backs I would take Gale Sayers and Jim Brown.
I think it was Henry Carr, a world class sprinter out of Detroit, they were recruiting. Sayers and Carr visited Iowa the same weekend and Sayers thought Iowa was more interested in Carr. Sayers decided to go to Kansas who was pretty good at the time. Iowa ended up not getting Carr either. Willie Flemming was recruited in 1956, I think. He only played in 1958 before he flunked out of school.
Yes, Chezik-Sayers. I don't know what his actual involvement was in terms of running things, but his name was on the sign.
Thanks 'unclesammy', interesting backstory. Willie Ray was from famous Smith family of Beaumont, Texas (Bubba, Tody, Willie). He was pure excitement when he touch the football, old timers will remember him well.
While being interviewed during a broadcast of a Chicago Cubs game on September 8, 2010, Sayers said he had originally intended to go to the University of Iowa. Sayers said that he decided against going to Iowa after the Iowa head coach, Jerry Burns, did not have time to meet Sayers during his one campus visit.
googled it
googled it
'unclesammy', regarding Henry Carr, I believe Henry did enroll for school in Iowa, at Burlington CC (Burlington, Iowa). Playing basketball one year/one semester (?). Then moving on to become a world class sprinter/track and field.
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anon_i8nzeu2gbf0ba
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Jim Brown, Sanders, Payton--all great backs. There's no disputing that. But anyone who thinks they--or anyone else--was better than Gale Sayers never saw Sayers play. I saw all of them. And I stand by my observation that Sayers was the best, period. Of course, opinions like this are subjective, so there will always be differences that can never be resolved. And that's OK.
Agree 100%. He played behind crappy lines in college and with the Bears. 22 touchdowns as a rookie in the NFL in 12/14 games (I don't remember when the NFL switched) and the 49er game with 6 touchdowns on 16 touches are both incredible numbers. His NFL highlight reel is still unparalleled even though it was basically from 5 years. Best ever!
He was Barry Sanders before there was Barry Sanders. If Gale Sayers got to play on astroturf he may not have been tackled!
Gale Sayers was the best person of the great running backs without a doubt. The best back was Barry Sanders. I cannot remember the viking D lineman's name who stated trying to tackle Barry was like trying to tackle smoke.
If it's todays turf maybe. Old turf and he may not have made it through a game, that stuff was brutal on knees.
I second Sweetness. The man can run and by far the best blocking running back ever. Sweetness threw at least 11 touchdown passes. You can argue who was the best runner or had the most yardage. Sweetness was the best to play that position.
