woodbuck27
06-20-2006, 02:54 PM
Gale Sayers
14 Touches, 6 Touchdowns
By Ralph Hickok
(NOTE: This article originally appeared on about.com Dec. 12, 2000.)
It was cold and very wet at Wrigley Field as the Bears prepared to play the 49ers on Dec. 12, 1965.
Players tested the muddy surface as coaches, fans, and sportswriters watched. Then they all agreed that this would be a low scoring game, on the order of 6-3 or 10-9, maybe even one of those scoreless ties that the Bears had specialized in back in the 1930s.
So much for theories. A rookie named Gale Sayers, a.k.a. the Kansas Comet, defied the mud and blazed for six touchdowns that afternoon, tying the NFL record.
Mike Ditka was the Bears' tight end that day. "Yeah, the mud affected the kid," Ditka said after the game. "If it had been dry out there, he would've scored 10 touchdowns."
Sayers' scoring spree began on the second play of the game, with Chicago facing a second-and-10 at its own 20-yard line. Quarterback Rudy Bukich tossed a screen pass to Sayers, who threaded his way through virtually the entire San Francisco defense to turn it into an 80-yard touchdown.
The Bears soon got the ball back and moved to the 49ers' 21-yard line. Sayers took a pitchout, outran defenders to the corner, evaded a couple of would-be tacklers, and headed for the end zone. Defensive back Jimmy Johnson had a clean shot at Sayers about the 3-yard line, but he never touched him. Sayers simply jumped over Johnson to score.
He made it three TDs in the first half by scoring on a 7-yard sweep that put the Bears ahead, 27-13.
In the third quarter, Sayers scored on the pitchout again, this time from 50 yards out, leaving defenders scattered like breadcrumbs in his path. His fifth touchdown, late in the period, was a simple 1-yard dive over the defense.
Several of his Chicago teammates knew that the NFL record was only one touchdown away, and they told him so between periods.
Sayers almost tied the record early in the fourth quarter, when he fielded a punt at his own 18, left more defenders grasping air, and approached the 50-yard line with only punter Tommy Davis in his way. But, as he made a cut to elude Davis, Sayers slipped and went down. It was the only time the mud bothered him that afternoon.
Then came an instant replay with a different ending. Sayers caught another punt, this time at the 15, and this time neither defenders nor the mud could stop him. About 15 seconds and 85 yards later, he had his sixth touchdown of the game.
That was the end of his day's work. Despite the chant, "We want Sayers!" from the fans at Wrigley Field, Coach George Halas kept the Kansas Comet on the bench while the Bears scored twice more in their 61-20 victory.
It was a pretty good day's work. Not only six touchdowns, but the incredible total of 336 all-purpose yards on just 14 touches: 113 yards on nine carries, 89 yards on two pass receptions, and 134 yards on three punt returns.
He also accomplished football's equivalent of hitting for the cycle in baseball by scoring in three different ways. That's been done only six times in NFL history. Sayers did it three of those times, twice in 1965.
That six-touchdown performance, 35 years ago, was the most brilliant of many brilliant games in Sayers' too-brief career. In his rookie season, he set records with 22 touchdowns and 2,272 all-purpose yards. He also threw a touchdown pass, left-handed, on the halfback option, even though he was a right-handed thrower.
What makes that season really amazing is that Halas, who didn't like using rookies, kept Sayers on the bench for the first two games of the season, so he played only 12 games that year, averaging 189 yards and nearly two touchdowns a game.
In 1966, Sayers led the NFL with 1,231 rushing yards, broke his own all-purpose record with 2,440 yards, and returned two kickoffs for touchdowns.
He was used less often from scrimmage in 1967, but he still accounted for 1,579 yards. He returned only 16 kickoffs, but took three of them back for scores, and one of his three punt returns also went for a touchdown.
In the ninth game of the 1968 season, Sayers suffered torn cartilage in his right knee. Nowadays, arthroscopic surgery often lets a player return from such an injury within two or three weeks. At that time, though, surgeons had to cut through a lot of muscle and bone to do the patching. Sayers missed the rest of the season and went through an intensive rehabilitation program getting ready for the following season.
Even though he wasn't quite as quick and his cuts were quite as sharp, Sayers won his second NFL rushing title with 1,032 yards in 1969.
But his left knee began to bother him in 1970. After two games, he had to undergo an operation on that knee. That was virtually the end of his career. After carrying the ball only 13 times in 1971, he was forced to retire.
The career of the Kansas Comet was indeed comet-like. It didn't last long, but it burned brightly.
Sayers played in only 68 games, the equivalent of just over four years by today's standard, the 16-game-season. Yet, in that brief span, he scored 56 touchdowns and accumulated 9,435 all-purpose yards, an average of nearly 140 yards per game.
In 1977, at the age of 34, Sayers become the youngest person ever inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
14 Touches, 6 Touchdowns
By Ralph Hickok
(NOTE: This article originally appeared on about.com Dec. 12, 2000.)
It was cold and very wet at Wrigley Field as the Bears prepared to play the 49ers on Dec. 12, 1965.
Players tested the muddy surface as coaches, fans, and sportswriters watched. Then they all agreed that this would be a low scoring game, on the order of 6-3 or 10-9, maybe even one of those scoreless ties that the Bears had specialized in back in the 1930s.
So much for theories. A rookie named Gale Sayers, a.k.a. the Kansas Comet, defied the mud and blazed for six touchdowns that afternoon, tying the NFL record.
Mike Ditka was the Bears' tight end that day. "Yeah, the mud affected the kid," Ditka said after the game. "If it had been dry out there, he would've scored 10 touchdowns."
Sayers' scoring spree began on the second play of the game, with Chicago facing a second-and-10 at its own 20-yard line. Quarterback Rudy Bukich tossed a screen pass to Sayers, who threaded his way through virtually the entire San Francisco defense to turn it into an 80-yard touchdown.
The Bears soon got the ball back and moved to the 49ers' 21-yard line. Sayers took a pitchout, outran defenders to the corner, evaded a couple of would-be tacklers, and headed for the end zone. Defensive back Jimmy Johnson had a clean shot at Sayers about the 3-yard line, but he never touched him. Sayers simply jumped over Johnson to score.
He made it three TDs in the first half by scoring on a 7-yard sweep that put the Bears ahead, 27-13.
In the third quarter, Sayers scored on the pitchout again, this time from 50 yards out, leaving defenders scattered like breadcrumbs in his path. His fifth touchdown, late in the period, was a simple 1-yard dive over the defense.
Several of his Chicago teammates knew that the NFL record was only one touchdown away, and they told him so between periods.
Sayers almost tied the record early in the fourth quarter, when he fielded a punt at his own 18, left more defenders grasping air, and approached the 50-yard line with only punter Tommy Davis in his way. But, as he made a cut to elude Davis, Sayers slipped and went down. It was the only time the mud bothered him that afternoon.
Then came an instant replay with a different ending. Sayers caught another punt, this time at the 15, and this time neither defenders nor the mud could stop him. About 15 seconds and 85 yards later, he had his sixth touchdown of the game.
That was the end of his day's work. Despite the chant, "We want Sayers!" from the fans at Wrigley Field, Coach George Halas kept the Kansas Comet on the bench while the Bears scored twice more in their 61-20 victory.
It was a pretty good day's work. Not only six touchdowns, but the incredible total of 336 all-purpose yards on just 14 touches: 113 yards on nine carries, 89 yards on two pass receptions, and 134 yards on three punt returns.
He also accomplished football's equivalent of hitting for the cycle in baseball by scoring in three different ways. That's been done only six times in NFL history. Sayers did it three of those times, twice in 1965.
That six-touchdown performance, 35 years ago, was the most brilliant of many brilliant games in Sayers' too-brief career. In his rookie season, he set records with 22 touchdowns and 2,272 all-purpose yards. He also threw a touchdown pass, left-handed, on the halfback option, even though he was a right-handed thrower.
What makes that season really amazing is that Halas, who didn't like using rookies, kept Sayers on the bench for the first two games of the season, so he played only 12 games that year, averaging 189 yards and nearly two touchdowns a game.
In 1966, Sayers led the NFL with 1,231 rushing yards, broke his own all-purpose record with 2,440 yards, and returned two kickoffs for touchdowns.
He was used less often from scrimmage in 1967, but he still accounted for 1,579 yards. He returned only 16 kickoffs, but took three of them back for scores, and one of his three punt returns also went for a touchdown.
In the ninth game of the 1968 season, Sayers suffered torn cartilage in his right knee. Nowadays, arthroscopic surgery often lets a player return from such an injury within two or three weeks. At that time, though, surgeons had to cut through a lot of muscle and bone to do the patching. Sayers missed the rest of the season and went through an intensive rehabilitation program getting ready for the following season.
Even though he wasn't quite as quick and his cuts were quite as sharp, Sayers won his second NFL rushing title with 1,032 yards in 1969.
But his left knee began to bother him in 1970. After two games, he had to undergo an operation on that knee. That was virtually the end of his career. After carrying the ball only 13 times in 1971, he was forced to retire.
The career of the Kansas Comet was indeed comet-like. It didn't last long, but it burned brightly.
Sayers played in only 68 games, the equivalent of just over four years by today's standard, the 16-game-season. Yet, in that brief span, he scored 56 touchdowns and accumulated 9,435 all-purpose yards, an average of nearly 140 yards per game.
In 1977, at the age of 34, Sayers become the youngest person ever inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.