The unexpected lesson I learned.
I was very excited when my wife gave me a new book to read during my downtime in the Florida rainy season. Gale Sayers was one of the most prolific running backs in the NFL back in the 1960s.
A member of the College(Univ. of Kansas) and Professional Football Hall of Fame, Sayers played a major role in the movie “Brian’s Song”. So I was kind of thinking it would be more along the lines of the movie vs. truly, Gale, explaining what life was like as a black superstar with the Chicago Bears in professional football back in the sixties and the difficult environment and choices he had to face.
And me being a football nut(see my Medium article “A Dreamer’s Championship”), as well having lived in Chicago the last 28 years, this was going to be awesome.
So, I dive in over coffee one morning, looking for the exciting light-hearted stories surrounding some of his best games remembering little about the movie in the context of the racial dynamic of that era. In watching Brian’s Song, I must admit that at my age (around 13) I was mostly clueless about the challenges that African-Americans faced in our country.
Gale Sayers and Brian Piccolo were the first-ever inter-racial roommates in NFL history. I mean that is huge! It is a story unto itself.
And they built a deep friendship. Two fairly opposite human beings. Piccolo being the cocky, prank-playing smart-ass, and Sayers the serious, no messing around, straight man. Sayers experienced a near career-ending knee injury and they together rehabilitated him back to pre-injury health. Physically and emotionally.
I admit I was raised the way many young, white males were raised with very little inter-racial exposure. My grade school had zero diversity and the only thing I remember when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed is that my school closed for a day or two. As embarrassing as this is, I am glad that the book forced me to reflect further on how sheltered my youth was and IF I had evolved.
Unfortunately, my all-boys, Jesuit high school was like the Penn State football stadium on home game days… a “white-out experience”.
I learned to treat everyone the same (“Do unto others”….) and I don’t think that was wrong. Yet, later in life, I learned to get to know and understand individuals as the people that they are. And thus, respect them and treat them in the way they wished to be treated. Well worth the extra effort.
I was devouring the book. What was surprising to me was that about a third of the way into it, I did not want to hear any more about Gale’s “game against the Packers” or any of the stats.
I wanted to hear more about his relationships with the people that had influenced him the most, owners, coaches, teammates, and especially his college track coach, given the circumstances and times. I also wanted to know the level of racial discrimination that existed in pro football in the 60s. How did white Chicagoans support black pro football players in that era?
These days, given the sensitivity level around race, political alliance, religion, sexual orientation, etc., in reading “I Am Third”, the book articulates a higher message about a humble, shy, super-athlete whose strong values and beliefs were exposed, challenged and inspiring to his collegiate and professional counterparts. This earned him respect in his profession and as a human being. He had great success in athletics and made a difference in the cities where he lived.
It was very clear that Gale Sayers was a great human being who happened to be one of the best running backs in NFL history. IN THAT ORDER!
And this came out loud and clear in “I Am Third”. Gale clearly went through much adversity in his relatively short career, both emotional and physical. He built upon his already strong character to survive, learn and excel in football and life with a simple mantra.
“I Am Third”
The Lord is first, friends are second and, I am third.
Maybe if more of us adopted Gale’s philosophy to be third, not first, think how the world might be in a much better place.
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