Earlier, the AP had named him to their second-string All America team -- on defense, despite Piccolo having played only two defensive downs all season. "My first two years, he wasn't fun to be around," Sayers told the Chicago Tribune in 2001. In 1998, for example, the Giants fined players who lost the book $1,500, and withheld their final paycheck until it was recovered, meaning the total fine could run into tens of thousands of dollars. In Real Life: Halas may have said this.

In Reel Life: Piccolo's married, but there's little mention of children except a line that "Joy's expecting again." In Real Life: Casey was an excellent wide receiver for the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers before beginning his acting career. George Allen, who coached the Rams and Redskins in the 1960s and 1970s, fined players $1,000 for the transgression. In Real Life: Piccolo didn't make the team in 1965; he was on the taxi squad. The film was based on Sayers’ autobiography “I Am Third,” and helped launch the careers of both actors. In Reel Life: Piccolo brags about how, in his senior year in college, he led the nation in rushing and scoring. “It just amazes me,” Joy Piccolo O’Connell said in an interview from her Wisconsin home. Caan weighed 175 when the movie was made. In 1999, the Saints transferred their playbook to CD-ROM, issuing each player a laptop. Sayers, on the phone, says he'll be there tomorrow. The running game was ably manned by Brian Piccolo, who gained 105 yards in 14 carries." In Reel Life: Halas meets with Sayers, and tells him about "The first pro team I ever played on. Sayers, 24 at the time, was already an established star, a soft-spoken Black man who generally raised his voice only when matters of social justice were discussed. Sayers says he doesn't remember. This biopic about the Chicago Bears' Brian Piccolo and Gale Sayers is no mere sports film. In Real Life: Sayers didn't like the way Williams portrayed him in this scene, believing he looks like an awkward, uncomfortable public speaker. In Real Life: Piccolo, in "A Short Season," said the Bears had stopped timing players in windsprints in 1965: "So far I've made it through my entire career without anyone ever having put a stopwatch on me.". Piccolo ran 252 times for Wake Forest in 1964, piling up 1,044 yards, tops in the country. “They showed the movie the other night,” Piccolo O’Connell said, “and we’ll get inquiries through the (Piccolo) foundation …, “But it’s amazing,” she concluded “how the story continues and continues.”. In Reel Life: Sayers tells Piccolo that Pic must have made the team, or else they wouldn't have made them roommates. The beautiful, soaring music by Michel Legrand resonates still, especially the instantly familiar title theme. Piccolo took a liking to her, and left her an autographed photo the last time he saw her. Piccolo had signed with the Bears as a free agent after not being drafted. “Brian loved being with people, loved to talk and couldn’t do enough public speaking,” she said, “and Gale was so extremely quiet.”, Indeed, Sayers said in a 2001 interview that Piccolo’s constant joking put him off at first. But he was getting old. In Reel Life: In the hospital, Piccolo tells Joy to take Gale downstairs to give a little girl an autograph. Piccolo, likewise, told biographer Jeannie Morris that he thought Sayers was “arrogant … I didn’t see him speak to a soul the whole week we were together.”. “It was 50 years ago.”.

In Real Life: Sayers and Piccolo started rooming together in 1967, two years after J.C. played his last season. But then-general manager Ed McCaskey, a Halas family member who was running the club, gave the move his blessing — and with good reason. Portraying Gale in Brian’s Song was a true honor and one of the nightlights of my career. In 1969, Gale Sayers began writing his autobiography, "I Am Third."

Piccolo lost his battle with the disease in 1970, less than a month after Sayers received the league’s George S. Halas Courage Award and gave the speech that became the centerpiece of the film: “He has the heart of a giant and that rare form of courage that allows him to kid himself and his opponent — cancer,” Sayers said at the awards dinner, a scene reprised in the ABC movie by actor Billy Dee Williams. In Real Life: What the doctors did know was that Piccolo had little chance of survival. "He was small," says Sayers, who met Williams during the filming. … I love Brian Piccolo, and I’d like all of you to love him too. One of the original NFL teams, the Staleys were owned by the Staley Starch Works company. True enough? Well, this is a true story."

The full list of our Top 20, plus explanation of the voting, Page 2's Top 20 Sports Movies of All-Time, Closer Look: Lost in a 'Field' of imagination. "I had no problem with the first movie," she told the Chicago Tribune. "It was essentially true. AP Writer Don Babwin in Chicago contributed to this report. Sayers played seven seasons for the Bears from 1965 to 1971, and was widely regarded as the best rusher of his era. With Mekhi Phifer, Sean Maher, Paula Cale, Elise Neal. When Piccolo received a diagnosis of late-stage testicular cancer the following year, Sayers unfailingly remained by his side. In Reel Life: Halas tells Sayers that "the doctors don't have any explanation." What an arrogant son of a bitch. Billy Dee Williams and James Caan filmed scenes for "Brian's Song" at the Bears' 1971 training camp at Rensselaer, Ind. In Real Life: Joy and Brian Piccolo had three daughters, Lori, Traci and Kristi, who were between 1½ and 4½ years old when he died. Losing an NFL playbook remains a big deal. But, as Joy Piccolo O'Connell, Brian's wife, told the Chicago Tribune last year, "Ralph Kurek was truly Brian's best friend ... Gale and Brian, that was such a small part of Brian's life. The Decatur Staleys in 1920." It is mine tonight, it is Brian Piccolo’s tomorrow. In Reel Life: Halas tells Piccolo he's going to be starting fullback. It included a chapter on his friend and roommate, Brian Piccolo. "J.C. here had a notion, and he talked to Ed about it, and Ed thinks it's a good idea," says Halas. In Real Life: Sayers began his recovery by lifting weights on what he calls, in "I Am Third," a knee machine, which was loaned to him by the Bears. Roman's death was easily the hardest hitting emotional moment of the episode. "Some weeks later we heard that the girl had passed away," writes Sayers.

In Real Life: Caan and Williams were thrown into a real lineup of real Bears getting weighed. Tonight, when you hit your knees,” Sayers concluded, “please ask God to love him.”, Williams tweeted Wednesday that “my heart is broken over the loss of my dear friend, Gale Sayers. Halas says he'll tell the team, but Sayers says no, he'll tell them. The movie documented the friendship between the two players, who initially competed for the Bears starting runningback job, then later shared a backfield when Piccolo was moved to fullback. The two grew close in 1968, when Piccolo unselfishly supported Sayers’ attempt to come back from the first of several knee injuries that eventually shortened his career.

In Reel Life: Piccolo sets up a leg-lift weight bench in Sayers' basement. "I can see why you might forget, but I sure couldn't. "Brian's Song" was the third of his 53 films to date. Piccolo can hardly talk, then tells Sayers he's going to get some sleep. According to the Associated Press, which confirmed his death through the Pro Football Hall of Fame, relatives of Sayers confirmed that he suffered from dementia in recent years. In Real Life: Piccolo had been a backup halfback starting in 1966, mostly substituting for Sayers. Read Next: Melissa Francis Off Fox News, Fox Business Amid Reports of Pay Disparity Claim, Jeff Tweedy Gets Back to His Roots (Again) With New Solo Album ‘Love Is the King’, Gale Sayers, NFL Legend Whose Friendship With Brian Piccolo Inspired ‘Brian’s Song,’ Dies at 77, NBCUniversal Promotes Inclusion Exec Janine Jones-Clark, Matthew McConaughey Reveals He Was Sexually Abused as a Teen in New Memoir, Rudy Giuliani’s Compromising Appearance in New ‘Borat’ Film Raises Questions Ahead of Election, How ‘Scream 5’ Directors Convinced Neve Campbell to Return to the Franchise Without Wes Craven, Ariana Grande’s New Album: Everything We Know So Far, HBO Max Hits 28.7 Million Subscribers in Q3, Warner Bros. Revenue Down 28%, Katy Perry, Orlando Bloom Buy $14.2 Million Montecito Compound, Horror Icons Jamie Lee Curtis and Neve Campbell Compare Notes on Their Reigns as Scream Queens, Tyler Perry on Producing During the Pandemic and Why He’s Weighing in on Politics, Netflix to Campaign Chadwick Boseman as Lead Actor for ‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom’, ‘Willow’ Sequel Series Officially a Go at Disney Plus With Jon M. Chu to Direct, Netflix Misses Q3 Subscriber and Net Earnings Forecasts, Stock Falls, Chris Parnell Lists Modern-Minded Silver Lake Spanish Revival, Everything You Need to Know About the 2020 Cannabis Ballot Initiatives, TAG Heuer’s New F1 Watches Honor the Late Racing Legend Ayrton Senna, World Series Fans a Preview of 2021 As Packed Arenas a Year Away, Fitch Says, These Are the Best Tattoo Lotions To Keep That Ink Looking Fresh. In Reel Life: Piccolo's near death.

My sincerest condolences to his family.”. He had embryonal cell carcinoma, a rare disease related to testicular cancer that, at the time, was almost incurable. “His days at the top of his game were numbered, but there was a magic about him that still sets him apart from the other great runningbacks in pro football,” wrote Red Smith, the Pulitzer Prize-winning sports journalist. In Reel Life: Piccolo reminds Sayers that they had met at the All-Star game in June.

"It was a clean sing, too -- your grandmother would have loved it," said Demon Deacons head coach Bill Tate. Brian's Song Photos. Hall of Famer Gale Sayers, who made his mark as one of the NFL’s best all-purpose running backs and was later celebrated for his enduring friendship with Chicago Bears teammate Brian Piccolo, has died. Sayers, in the short documentary, "Gale Sayers: First and Goal" (included on the DVD), says, "Halas didn't believe in starting rookies. I hear we'll both be playing for the Bears.' In 1967, hotel-room assignments were generally done by position and running back was the only slot on the Bears team where players of different colors would be thrown together. He played from 1961 to 1968, catching 359 passes for 5,444 yards and 40 touchdowns. In Real Life: In "Brian Piccolo: A Short Season," a biography by Jeannie Morris, Piccolo says Jack Snow and Bob Hayes both left a real impression on him at that game.

In Reel Life: Much emphasis is placed on how Piccolo works with Sayers to rehabilitate his knee. On the bus ride home from a Wake Forest win over Virginia in 1964, he led a four-hour group sing.