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 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.Â
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.
This undated photo of Gale Sayers ran Aug. 13, 1961, for the upcoming Shrine Classic football game.
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.
Gale Sayers and his wife, Linda Lou, pose with the ring Sayers was given as part of The World-Herald All-Big Eight Team on Dec. 24, 1962.
Kansas' Armand Baughman (30) threw a block so that Gale Sayers (48) could pick up some yardage against Nebraska on Nov. 9, 1963, at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln. Nebraska won.
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.
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, right, with Bob Gibson at the Near North YMCA in 1965.
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.
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.
1966 family portrait of the Sayers family. From left: Linda Lou, Gayle Lynn and Gale.Â
Gale Sayers signing autographs at the Crossroads Mall in Omaha on April 22, 1967.Â
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 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 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.Â
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.Â
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.Â
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.
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.Â
