Fifty years ago on May 25, 1970, Gale Sayers accepted the George S. Halas Award at a dinner in New York City. His speech was emotional and left the 600 in attendance awed.
Gale Sayers, the great running back, spoke from the heart about his friend and fellow Bears RB Brian Piccolo.
Sayers was a first-round pick out of Kansas. Piccolo was an undrafted free agent out of Wake Forest. The two struck up an unlikely friendship. Piccolo died at age 26 from embryonal cell carcinoma, an aggressive form of germ cell testicular cancer, first diagnosed after it had spread to his chest cavity.
The video below is from “Brian’s Song,” one of the great sports movies of all-time that premiered on ABC. The speech is re-enacted by actor Billy Dee Williams, who played Sayers in the movie. James Caan played Brian Piccolo.
The trailer for the 1971 movie:
