Gale Sayers the Kansas Comet passes away at 77

[scarletred]

From Dementia..

RIP Gale

 

[baseball31ne]

A legend at every level he played. And from different things I’ve seen and read over the years, as good or better of a person.

Prayers for his family and friends.

 

[scarletred]

He had the potential being the greatest running back in the NFL but his career was cut short with that knee injury..

 

[Dr_Alan_Grant]

man, dementia is a real shit thing. Probably tougher on his family than on him. RIP.

 

[Bugeater]

An absolute great, on and off the field.

 

[goldencohusker]

In my book, the #1 all time "one that got away".

RIP

 

[TheBeav815]

RIP. Surely one of the greatest talents of all time, his NFL highlights are something else, he looks like when you throw on film of a 5* kid playing in a bad high school league. Dude just destroyed defenses until he tore up his knee. In those days it was a career ender.

 

[mel mains]

RIP. Surely one of the greatest talents of all time, his NFL highlights are something else, he looks like when you throw on film of a 5* kid playing in a bad high school league. Dude just destroyed defenses until he tore up his knee. In those days it was a career ender.

Beav, Bernstein has been interesting about Gale this morning. Reason why: his dad played with Gale at Omaha Central; Gale worked for his grandparents in Omaha. Who knew, right?

 

[Steve Rosen]

My Gale Sayers memory:. Gale and my cousin were good friends from their days at Central High. When Sayers was back in Omaha after his rookie season with the Bears, my cousin invited me to tag along to Sayers' house to watch the Packers-Cowboys NFL championship game (not the frozen tundra bowl, but the year before in Dallas). I was all of 10-year-old, and I'll never forget that afternoon I shared with him. He even signed his autograph on a 1964 Jayhawks versus Nebraska game program in Lawrence, I still have the program!

 

[JoelBittner]

Once a year I pull out my VHS copy of Brian's Song. Best made for TV movie ever. It actually got a theatrical release because of the response from viewers. A very rare thing. I wish more people could understand what that movie preached.

 

[donm1330]

From Dementia..

RIP Gale

I was fortunate enough to meet him a few years ago at a card show. His brother Ron was there and helped him walk a bit. Signed a football for me. One of the nicest guys to talk to. His brother Roger was a track star at Omaha U. back in the day and I believe ran about a 9.4 100 yr dash. Great family. Along with Johnny Rogers, two of the most exciting running backs I ever saw. Omaha had some great athletes during those days. He will be missed.

 

[frankluv]

Played ball against him and his friends without pads in some pickup tackle games in the park. Great player, not as fast as Roger but harder to tackle. RIP, Gayle.

 

[frankluv]

I was fortunate enough to meet him a few years ago at a card show. His brother Ron was there and helped him walk a bit. Signed a football for me. One of the nicest guys to talk to. His brother Roger was a track star at Omaha U. back in the day and I believe ran about a 9.4 100 yr dash. Great family. Along with Johnny Rogers, two of the most exciting running backs I ever saw. Omaha had some great athletes during those days. He will be missed.

I believe at one time, he had the title, fastest man on the earth.

 

[scarletred]

My Gale Sayers memory:. Gale and my cousin were good friends from their days at Central High. When Sayers was back in Omaha after his rookie season with the Bears, my cousin invited me to tag along to Sayers' house to watch the Packers-Cowboys NFL championship game (not the frozen tundra bowl, but the year before in Dallas). I was all of 10-year-old, and I'll never forget that afternoon I shared with him. He even signed his autograph on a 1964 Jayhawks versus Nebraska game program in Lawrence, I still have the program!

That is awesome having a autograph program from that game..

 

[huntered]

Gale was the rb all of us kids wanted to be growing up. nobody even close, lifes rules sure are tough.

 

[Baxter48]

That is awesome having a autograph program from that game..

His nickname was the Kansas comet

 

[Cedric]

My Gale Sayers memory:. Gale and my cousin were good friends from their days at Central High. When Sayers was back in Omaha after his rookie season with the Bears, my cousin invited me to tag along to Sayers' house to watch the Packers-Cowboys NFL championship game (not the frozen tundra bowl, but the year before in Dallas). I was all of 10-year-old, and I'll never forget that afternoon I shared with him. He even signed his autograph on a 1964 Jayhawks versus Nebraska game program in Lawrence, I still have the program!

I was nine years old in the fall of 1965, just starting to get interested in football. One Sunday afternoon my dad told me to come into the living room and watch the Bears play (on our tiny black and white TV) because their best player was from Omaha. Sayers tore up the Rams that day and I became a fan for life. Thankfully, I was just young enough that I did not recall him running wild on NU.
Interesting Sayers family story. You might have heard of the town of Nicodemus, Kansas, south of Alma. It was founded by freed slaves after the Civil War and the entire population was African-American. They owned their own farms and ranches and the town thrived. It still exists today and has summer reunions for descendants. Sayers' grandfather was one of the town's founders. He later moved his family to Wichita (where Gale was born) before coming to Omaha. Kinda cool.
Our old neighbor, now deceased (Mel -- it was Bob G), played against Sayers in the famous 0-0 Central/Prep tie in 1960. Called Sayers the best he ever played with or against, high school or college. Impossible to catch (he had a long TD run called back that night). Prep was fortunate to come out of the game with a tie.