Gale Sayers

Gale Sayers. The Kansas Comet. Gallopin' Gale. Magic (as his late teammate, Brian Piccolo, described him.) I Am Third. Brian's Song.

Given Sayers' death today, the tributes are justifiably rolling in via news coverage and social media posts. It's been a bit hard to process because, yet again, one of my heroes has past.

Sayers was the most exciting running back that I've ever seen play. I was a kid who attended Kansas games with my parents and watched 48 leave tacklers in his wake given his fluid and elusive running style. It was amazing that a guy wearing high top leather football cleats could be that slippery.

He then went to the Chicago Bears where I remember watching the six touchdown game against San Francisco. And, I remember my heartbreak at his knee injuries, which cut his career short way too early.

I Am Third, Sayers' book, was the first book that I remember reading by a black author. The book was about being third behind God and family. I still have it in my library.

And, Brian's Song. I'm sure I cried at some movie growing up but this movie was the one that caused grown men everywhere to do it. The story, of Sayers' friendship with Piccolo, who is dying of cancer, is as meaningful today as it was in 1971.

I had the good fortune of meeting Sayers at a University of Kansas event many years ago. It was very brief but I remember the grace and elegance of the man. As I look back at the YouTube clips of him at Kansas and Chicago, that grace and elegance is displayed on the field as well.

2020 has claimed another victim. RIP Gale Sayers.