Wichita-native Gale Sayers, a football legend, was one of the greatest running backs of all-time; today would've been his 80th birthday. He died in 2020 after a battle with dementia.
He was born in Wichita, and raised in Omaha. Sayers said he originally intended to play for the University of Iowa, but decided not to after Iowa head coach Jerry Burns did not have time to meet Sayers during his campus visit.
The "Kansas Comet", Sayers played college football for the Kansas Jayhawks, where he compiled in excess of 4,000 all-purpose yards during three seasons, and was twice recognized as a consensus All-American. He's in the College Football Hall of Fame.
In the 1965 NFL draft, the Chicago Bears had the #3 and #4 picks in the first round; they took linebacker Dick Butkus at #3, and Sayers at #4. Sayers was also drafted #5 overall in the AFL draft by the Kansas City Chiefs, but he decided to play for coach George Halas and the Bears.
In Sayers' rookie NFL season, he set a league record by scoring 22 touchdowns—including a record-tying six in one game on muddy conditions at Wrigley Field—and gained 2,272 all-purpose yards en route to being named the NFL's Rookie of the Year. He continued this production through his first five seasons, earning four Pro Bowl appearances and five first-team All-Pro selections.
A right knee injury forced Sayers to miss the final five games of the 1968 season, but he returned in 1969 to lead the NFL in rushing yards and be named the NFL Comeback Player of the Year. An injury to his left knee in the 1970 preseason as well as subsequent injuries kept him sidelined for most of his final two seasons. Sayers was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1977 at age 34 and remains the youngest person to have received the honor. He is one of four players in the Super Bowl era to be enshrined in the Hall of Fame without ever playing a postseason game.
He was named to the NFL's 75th Anniversary Team as a halfback and kick returner, the only player to occupy two positions on the team. In 2019, he was named to the NFL 100th Anniversary All-Time Team.
His jersey number is retired by both the Bears and the University of Kansas.
"Just give me 18 inches of daylight. That's all I need." he would say.
Mike Ditka, a teammate of Sayers' for two seasons, called him "the greatest player I've ever seen. That's right—the greatest." Another former teammate, linebacker Dick Butkus, famous for his tackling ability, said of Sayers: "He had this ability to go full speed, cut and then go full speed again right away. I saw it every day in practice. We played live, and you could never get a clean shot on Gale. Never."