Much of the credit for Sayers being so fondly remembered by fans such as myself that never saw him play at all, let alone in his prime, has to be given to two things.
The first is NFL Films, who upon its creation in the 1960s were able to document Sayers on film, so his career and spectacular runs are available for fans to see Sayers' true greatness.
The other has to go to the TV-Movie in 1971 (and to a lesser degree, a later remake) Brian's Song.
Those two factors are what keep Gale Sayers remembered and in the discussion of great backs.
Some of the Sayers's love can be attributed to the NFL Films composers, but the best music cannot make a journeyman back look like Sayers.
Sayers could make cuts at full speed that would send tacklers flying by him, moves in the open field that resembles a deer bounding through a meadow, and yet Sayers was capable of putting his shoulder down and powering over a back as well.
Prime Gale Sayers lasted only three and a half seasons, but after a rookie of the year season that he scored a league-record 22 touchdowns and tied the league record for touchdowns in a game with six ( Sayers could have scored eight, he almost returned a punt for a touchdown and late in the game, backup Ronnie Bull rushed for a short score, in today's game Sayers would have certainly returned to the contest), Sayers would lead the league in rushing in 1966 and was leading the league in 1968.
Sayers would have his biggest game in 1968 when he rushed for 205 yards on 24 carries against Green Bay and one week later, that Gale Sayers would not return.
When Sayers would be hit at an odd angle by the 49ers Kermit Alexander, Sayers tore his ACL, MCL, and cartilage he would never be the same player again, and even though Sayers would win the Comeback Player of the Year award in 1969 when he would lead the league in rushing as the only player to exceed 1,000 yards, it was done with power and short runs, not his brilliant long dashes.
1969 would be the last hurrah as Sayers injured his good knee in 1970 and would play two games each in 1970 and 1971 before calling it a career after attempting one final return in the preseason of 1972.
Gale Sayers would never play in a playoff game to put his skills on the stage that his skills deserved and might have been a little underappreciated in his time as a result.
Sayers would be the youngest player ever to be elected to the Hall of Fame in 1977 at the age of 34, but Sayers would be remembered for even more than his playing ability after the 1971 television film "Brian's Song".
The film starred Billy Dee Williams as Sayers and James Caan as Brian Piccolo, Sayers's roommate as the first bi-racial roommates on the Bears and his backfield mate as the team's fullback.
But the film not only told the story of their friendship, but it told about Piccolo's struggle with cancer that would cost Piccolo his life in 1970.
Watching it almost fifty years later, you can that despite strong performances by Williams and Caan, it does intentionally tug at the heartstrings a little too much and it's a bit dated, but it still is very watchable even now.
Disney did a remake of the film in 2001.
I'm not sure how watchable the remake is, as I've never seen it but films that aren't successful don't usually have reboots made.
Brian's Song keeps Sayers memorable today, even to non-football fans.
Gale Sayers was successful after football with a business career as well as time spent as the athletic director at Southern Illinois University and was known as one of the nicest former athletes in meeting his fans.
Sayers had been suffering from Dementia in recent years that didn't affect him physically as much as with his memory failing that left him unable to do things as simple as signing his name.
For my money, Gale Sayers is the most exciting back to ever play in the NFL, and on my list, there are few competitors for his crown.
Barry Sanders likely comes the closest, but Sanders never returned kicks and punts in the NFL (Sanders did return kickoffs at Oklahoma State) with Jim Brown and for two seasons Duane Thomas in the picture as well, but none were as consistently exciting as Gale Sayers.
Sayers had the size and speed that would have likely made him a star in the league even today as a versatile back that can carry, catch, and being involved in the return game.
That's not always the case when we look back at stars of the past and yet the two backs of the sixties that no one ever says that they wouldn't have starred in today's game- Sayers and Brown.
In many ways, the best parallel to Gale Sayers isn't a football player- it's a baseball player.
Gale Sayers's best comparison is Sandy Koufax.
Both players had very short primes, both players were so good during that prime that they are hard to forget and both players had their careers shortened by breakdowns beyond their control- Sayers' knee and Koufax's elbow.
The term "comet" is used often in sports for players that play well for a short time and quickly sink from the scene.
However, a true comet is one that orbits around the system and visits various points as it orbits.
Players such as Gale Sayers remain in our memories because they are so spectacular that every time that a sensational play is made, the memory of special players return to us and how good they once were.
That's a comet- one that shines brightly, leaves, but returns through the performances of others.
The nickname that was given to Gale Sayers?
"The Kansas Comet".
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