Sports & Torts: Gale Sayers

We take a look back on an amazing career & talk to Gale about his teammates, fellow hall of fame running backs, the current Bears and his business & charity work off the field. An amazing interview with an amazing player.

Sports & Torts: Yashi Rice

The lovely Yashi puts her communications degree to good use in this interview! We talk to her about the Bliss, her music career, and big brother Simeon Rice.

Gale Sayers

Gale Sayers burst upon the pro football scene in 1965 with the kind of an impact that the sport had not felt in many years. It is difficult to imagine a more dynamic debut than the one he enjoyed as a rookie. In his first heavy preseason 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.

In the regular season, he scored four touchdowns, including a 96-yard game breaking kickoff return, against the Minnesota Vikings. And, in the next-to-last game, playing on a muddy field that would have stalled most runners, Gale scored a record-tying six touchdowns against the San Francisco 49ers. Included in his sensational spree were an 80-yard reception, a 50-yard rush and a 65-yard punt return. For the entire season, Gale scored 22 touchdowns and 132 points, both then-rookie records.

Quiet, unassuming, and always ready to compliment a teammate for a key block, Sayers continued to sizzle in 1967 and well into the 1968 season. Then, in the ninth game, Sayers suffered a knee injury that required immediate surgery.

After a tortuous rehabilitation program, Gale came back in 1969 in a most spectacular manner, winding up with his second 1,000-yard rushing season and universal Comeback of the Year honors. But injuries continued to take their toll and, just before the 1972 season, Gale finally had to call it quits.

In his relatively short career, he compiled a record that can never be forgotten. His totals show 9,435 combined net yards, 4,956 yards rushing, and 336 points scored. At the time of his retirement he was the NFL\'s all-time leader in kickoff returns. He won All-NFL honors five straight years and was named Offensive Player of the Game in three of the four Pro Bowls in which he played. Gale Sayers has had a successful career following his retirement from football. In 1976, Sayers was named Athletic Director at Southern Illinois University. Later, in 1984 he founded Crest Computer Supply Company in the Chicago-area. Under Gale\'s leadership, this company experienced consistent growth and was renamed Sayers 40, Inc.
Currently, he is Chairman of Sayers 40, Inc., a technology consulting and implementation firm serving Fortune 1000 companies nationally with offices in Vernon Hills, IL, Canton, MA, Clearwater, FL, and Atlanta, GA.
Gale Sayers and his wife are also active philanthropists in Chicago. They support the Cradle Foundation—an adoption organization in Evanston, IL, and, most recently, they founded the Gale Sayers Center in the Austin neighborhood of Chicago. The Gale Sayers Center is an after-school program for children ages 8–12 from Chicago\'s west side and focuses on leadership development, tutoring, and mentoring.
In 2009, Sayers joined the University of Kansas Athletic Department staff as Director of Fundraising for Special Projects.


The Gale Sayers Center

Gale\'s Career Stats

Yashi Rice

I am just a girl from chicago trying to make my mark in music, and my life is moving so fast while creating an album and a sound people will love. I\'m blessed.


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