OT - Gale Sayers

[tornado]

with the threads about Jim Thome and how classy of a guy he is...

did anyone catch the Cubs game last night, Gale Sayers was in the broadcast booth chatting and singing the 7th inning stretch..(not a good singing voice!)

What a great treasure for Chicago fans and a really classy guy......he is one of my favorite athletes...
he talked about how he was interested in playnig football at Iowa, but felt snubbed by the coach so he chose Kansas (a far lesser football school in tradition)..
Nowadays he gives almost ALL his time to charity and other volunteer endeavors.
..anyone recall that Gale was Athletic Director at SIU for 1976-1981?

http://www.galesayerscenter.org/gale_sayers0.aspx

[electricmayhem]

Good post, T -- I'm gonna change gears on you for a sec.

Sayers' #40 is retired by the Bears... do you think there is a chance they will retire Singletary's #50 and Hampton's #99 now that both are in the HOF?

[Beninator]

Sayers' #40 is retired by the Bears... do you think there is a chance they will retire Singletary's #50 and Hampton's #99 now that both are in the HOF?

Sayers is a great guy.

As for retired Bears numbers, I have heard that a reason the Bears are not retiring as many numbers as they have done in the past is that they were
afraid of running out of numbers for players on the field.

The Bears have retired 13 numbers. My guess is that of the players you have mentioned, Singletary stands a better chance for his number to be retired.

http://www.chicagobears.com/tradition/Uniform.asp

[SFP]

I'm not a fan of retiring numbers. What should happen is that a number is classified for respect. If you want their number you have to ask that person if you can or if they have passed away perhaps have the team vote on it. There are only 99 numbers so if you start retiring numbers at some point someone deemed worthy will be cut off because there are not enough numbers to chose.

[Out of Balance]

with the threads about Jim Thome and how classy of a guy he is...

did anyone catch the Cubs game last night, Gale Sayers was in the broadcast booth chatting and singing the 7th inning stretch..(not a good singing voice!)

What a great treasure for Chicago fans and a really classy guy......he is one of my favorite athletes...
he talked about how he was interested in playnig football at Iowa, but felt snubbed by the coach so he chose Kansas (a far lesser football school in tradition)..
Nowadays he gives almost ALL his time to charity and other volunteer endeavors.
..anyone recall that Gale was Athletic Director at SIU for 1976-1981?
http://www.galesayerscenter.org/gale_sayers0.aspx

Agreed T Great football player and a better person I do remember him at SIU. I also remember the game he ran for 6 TD's But as for most great Bear players, they were/are, under paid, force to play hurt and played till they are run down by the organization and its owner's My Opinion

[electricmayhem]

I'm not a fan of retiring numbers. What should happen is that a number is classified for respect. If you want their number you have to ask that person if you can or if they have passed away perhaps have the team vote on it. There are only 99 numbers so if you start retiring numbers at some point someone deemed worthy will be cut off because there are not enough numbers to chose.

With a 53-man roster, it would take a long time before teams run out of numbers. I think the Celtics are in more danger than any NFL team.

[Da Coach]

Here is a current article detailing some problems with Gale Sayers' charity-

http://www.chicagobreakingsports.com/2010/09/problems-for-bears-legend-gale-sayers-charity.html

His charity took in more than $581,000 in contributions, and promised to open The Gale Sayers Center, a "state-of-the-art facility offering after-school programs to Chicago children".
The charity promised that the Gale Sayers Center would open in 2008, but they have not yet even bought or leased property for the facility, which also was to hold a National Football League film library and a 60-seat theater.
The organization's most recent tax return reported only $181,721 in assets, while most of the rest of the funds went to salaries, management and unsuccessful efforts to site the facility
Meanwhile, the dismissal of the charity's executive director about a year and half ago and a complete turnover of its board of directors -- except for Sayers -- has led to a sense of turmoil in the organization.