Chicago Bears Great Gale Sayers Quiz

Answer: Wichita, KS

Where else would one expect the "Kansas Comet" to start his life? Sayers spent his youth in Omaha, NE, but went to college at University of Kansas, where he starred in football and track.

Answer: Kansas City Chiefs

Kansas City made an aggressive offer for Sayers, and wooed him hard to join their team. He summarized the package Chicago offered him as "$4.95 and a carton of Cokes", but spurned the Chiefs to sign with the Bears.

Answer: Dick Butkus

Chicago actually drafted Butkus immediately before Sayers that year. How many teams get an opportunity like that, building an offense around Sayers and adding Butkus to an already great defense? The Bears were 9-5 that season, but both Sayers and Butkus only played for one other winning team after that.

Answer: Kickoff return

Gale scored on an 80 yard screen pass on the game's second play, runs of 21, 7, 50, and one yard, and an 85-yard punt return. Bears coach George Halas then benched him as Chicago scored twice more to beat the 49ers 61-20. Sayers handled the ball only 14 times that day, but scored six touchdowns and gained 336 yards: 9-113 rushing, 2-89 receiving, 3-134 returning punts.

Answer: 1966 and 1969

Gale led the league in rushing the two seasons that he rushed for 1000 yards. He gained 1231 yards in 229 carries in 1966, and 1032 yards in 236 carries in 1969.

Answer: He put himself behind Jesus and his family

"The Lord is first; my family and friends are second; and I am third", he wrote in the 1970 book. Gale was actually the fourth person drafted in the NFL for 1965, behind Tucker Frederickson who went to the Giants, Ken Willard who went to the 49ers, and his Bears' teammate Dick Butkus.

Answer: San Francisco

Sadly and ironically, the same opponent against which he had his best day as a pro. Sayers was having his best NFL season in 1968, leading the league in rushing and averaging 6.2 yards per carry, before being injured in the ninth game. He finished with 856 yards that year.

Answer: His teammate

Gale's teammate and roommate Brian Piccolo was in the Bears' starting lineup in 1969 when he started losing weight and strength and was eventually benched. It turned out that he had lung cancer. In May 1970, accepting the award for NFL's Most Courageous Player, Sayers spoke the words while dedicating the award to Piccolo. Piccolo died a month later.

The relationship between Sayers and Piccolo, described briefly in his autobiography, spawned the award-winning, though often-inaccurate movie, "Brian's Song".

Answer: Rick Casares

Sayers' 4956 yards rushing put him behind only Rick Casares, who gained 5657 yards during his time with the Bears from 1955-64.

Answer: Highest career yards per carry

Gale retired with 4956 yards in 991 carries, an impressive 5.0 rushing average that ranked him behind only Jim Brown (5.22) and Marion Motley (5.0). His 31.2 yards per kickoff return average, and 22 touchdowns as a rookie, remained NFL marks through the remainder of the 20th century.

He was the youngest inductee into football's Hall of Fame at 34, an age when many players are still playing. Perhaps the best testament to what a player he was, was that he was selected to the NFL's 50-year all-time team, despite being an active player at the time with only five seasons in the league, and was also selected to the NFL's 75-year all-time team, despite having played in only four more games after the 50-year team was selected.