Photos: Gale Sayers through the years
Omaha Central football star Gale Sayers in November 1960. During the 1960 season, Sayers gained 1,500 yards and averaged 166.7 yards per game.
Gale Sayers, right, and Vernon Breakfield were both football-track standouts at Central. In addition to the regular “O” letter, Sayers’ sweater includes 17 chenille stars, a miniature football and a track emblem. The two larger stars are for his All-America and All-Midwest football selections.
Gale Sayers competing for Omaha Central High School on March 24, 1961. He shattered the hurdle and broad jump marks and helped to set a relay record in the Greater Omaha High School track meet. At the 1961 state meet, Gale set a record jumping 24 feet, 10.5 inches.
A football and track star at Omaha Central, Gale Sayers was honored by Omaha Post No. 1 of the American Legion as the city's outstanding prep athlete on May 23, 1961. From left are Yale Trustin, Bob Bergshire and Sayers.
Omaha Central's Gale Sayers at a track meet in Omaha in 1961.
Ellen Goldstein, 18, and Gale Sayers, 18, were named Queen and King of Sports at Central High School's annual O Club at Peony Park on June 2, 1961.
Gale Sayers returned to Nebraska to accept the trophy for the 1961 Shrine Bowl at Memorial Stadium on Aug. 18, 1962.
A dejected Gale Sayers (48) paces the sidelines after Nebraska beat Kansas 40-16 on Nov. 10, 1962, in Lawrence, Kansas. Sayers played football for Kansas in college.
Roger Sayers, left, shakes hands with brother Gale Sayers after Roger lost in the 100-yard dash on April 20, 1963, in Lawrence, Kansas. Roger attended Omaha University, and Gale attended the University of Kansas.
Gale Sayers and Pat Fischer meet and talk football while home for the holidays in December 1963.
Kansas halfback Gale Sayers looks at the football after he hauled in a pass behind the Nebraska secondary. However, his high knee action popped the ball from his grasp as he pulled it down, and the pass went incomplete, enabling the Huskers to win 14-7 on Nov. 7, 1964, in Lawrence, Kansas. Husker Ted Vactor (No. 46) is in pursuit.
An all-Nebraska coin flip ... Kansas co-captains Gale Sayers (Omaha), Ron Marsh (Omaha), Sid Micek (Scottsbluff), from left, and Huskers Lyle Sittler (Cree) and Bob Hohn (Beatrice). Nebraska beat Kansas 14-7 on Nov. 7, 1964, in Lawrence, Kansas.
Kansas halfback Gale Sayers, left, chats with quarterback Bob Skahan at the Nebraska-Kansas game on Nov. 7, 1964, in Lawrence, Kansas. The Huskers won 14-7.
Gale Sayers makes a 17-yard run to the Kansas 37 at the Nebraska-Kansas game on Nov. 7, 1964, in Lawrence, Kansas.
Gale Sayers, right, with Bob Gibson at the Near North YMCA in 1965.
Roger Sayers, left, and Gale Sayers pose for a photo in 1965 when they were honored along with with other members of a 1955 Midget Football League championship team from Omaha. Standing in the center is Fred Abboud, who coached Roger and Gale's 1955 team, which was sponsored by Roberts Dairy.
From left, Gale Sayers, Pat Fischer and Jimmy Brown at a West Omaha Rotary Club luncheon at the Omaha Blackstone Hotel on April 16, 1965.
Undated photo of Gale Sayers playing for the University of Kansas.
Gale Sayers with his parents, Bernice and Roger Sayers, in 1965. "All of us coming up behind Gale Sayers wanted to be Gale Sayers," says former Husker running back Mike Green.
Gale Sayers photographed for an interview in the Sept. 4, 1966, Magazine of the Midlands.
1966 family portrait of the Sayers family. From left: Linda Lou, Gayle Lynn and Gale.
1968 PHOTO: From left to right, Gale Sayers, Bob Boozer, and Oscar Robertson were in Omaha for the kickoff of the George Bryant Basketball Center's second year.
The Sayers family: Linda, Gayle and Gale. This photo ran with the Feb. 16, 1969, announcement of them expecting another baby.
Gale Sayers, left, poses with Vernon Breakfield, an old Central teammate, for a photo about Sayers' knee on April 16, 1969.
Gale Sayers on April 16, 1969.
Gale Sayers on May 6, 1970, while in Omaha to speak at the Downtown YMCA.
Gale Sayers on May 6, 1970.
Gale Sayers was the speaker at Anthony's Restaurant honoring the Roberts Dairy midget football team coached by Fred Abboud on Nov. 27, 1970. Abboud coached both Gale and his brother Roger on the Roberts midget team in the '50s. From left: Coach Abboud, sons Gregg and Chris and Sayers.
Gale Sayers and wife Linda relax in their Lawrence, Kansas, apartment with the household pet, Tiny.
Gale Sayers, right, poses with Paul Bryant, winner of the Ricky Smith Memorial Trophy. Sayers was the featured attraction at a dinner on Nov. 15, 1971, for Schwesers midget football team at Northern Natural Gas Co., honoring kids from the Near North Side where Sayers grew up.
Gale Sayers hands off the ball to Mike Baxter, 13, during a free football clinic at Adams Park in Omaha. This photo ran July 1, 1972.
Henry Jordan, left, and Gale Sayers in Omaha for the Sportscasters Association Banquet at Peony Park on Jan. 17, 1973. Sayers received the Sportsman of the Year award.
Gale Sayers on Jan. 17, 1973.
Gale Sayers with his new boss, Kansas University Athletic Director Clyde Walker. This photo ran in the Magazine of the Midlands section on Aug. 26, 1973.
Gale Sayers at Kansas University. This photo ran in the Magazine of the Midlands section on Aug. 26, 1973.
Gale Sayers kicks at the air on the Kansas sideline as Rich Sanger kicks the winning field goal for the Huskers at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln on Oct. 20, 1973.
Gale Sayers on Nov. 2, 1987.
From left: Johnny Rodgers, Marlin Briscoe, Bob Boozer and Gale Sayers at the first annual Wesley House Golf outing at Deer Creek Golf Course on June 19, 2006.
Gale and Roger Sayers are photographed in studio for Omaha Central High School alumni on May 29, 2015.
Hall of Fame Chicago Bears legend Gale Sayers, left, is applauded by Richard Dent as he took the stage during the Chicago Bears convention at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center on June 7, 2019, in Rosemont, Illinois.
One of the greatest football players to ever hail from Nebraska now has a street named after him in the North Omaha neighborhood he grew up in.
