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Central High School, where he played middle linebacker on its varsity team. He also was a member of his high school track-and-field team, where he won three gold medals in area competitions. Sayers set a statewide record in the broad jump and placed fourth statewide in high hurdles. On the high school gridiron, he was a top player
basketball star Bill Bridges (Mu 1958), football star Steve Lawson (Mu 1969), and his college roommate and teammate Mike Shinn (Mu 1962) whom Sayers credited with encouraging him to join the Fraternity. Close friends, Shinn and Sayers both participated in civil rights demonstrations in 1964 protesting hous-
rival upstart American Football League (AFL). The NFL Chicago Bears and the AFL Kansas City Chiefs drafted Sayers in the first round of their league's respective rookie drafts. Despite receiving a more lucrative offer from owner Lamar Hunt and the "hometown" Chiefs franchise, Sayers signed a four-
year $100,000 contract with the Chicago Bears. The Bears selected Sayers fourth immediately after the team drafted fellow future NFL Hall of Famer Dick Butkus with the third pick in the historic 1965 NFL Draft. In 1965, Sayers won the NFL Rookie of the Year and set an NFL record of the most rush- ing touchdowns in a season for a rookie, 22, which still stands today.
in the Omaha area and highly recruited. Numer- ous universi- ties, including Iowa State University, the University of Nebraska, and the University of Notre Dame, recruited Say- ers. In 1961, Sayers chose to attend the University of Kansas (KU) in Lawrence, KS, on a full athletic schol- arship. While at KU, Sayers, during his sophomore year, joined the Frater- nity as 1963 initiate of the University of Kansas Chap- ter, the Mu of
In a 1968
home game against the San Francisco 49ers, 49ers defensive back Kermit Alex- ander made a low tackle on
Kappa Alpha Psi. Sayers' undergraduate membership occurred during the 1950s and 1960s when KU Athletics benefited from athletic exploits of several Mu Chapter members, most notably, Wilt Chamberlain (Mu 1957), football star Curtis R. McClinton (Mu 1958), foot- ball star Homer Floyd (Mu 1957), track sprinter Charles E. Tidwell (Mu 1957),
ing discrimination in the college town of Lawrence, KS. Sayers was a consensus first-team All-American in his junior and senior years. After a senior season at KU in 1964, Sayers was the prize draft pick in the intense battle for college football stars between the established NFL and the
Sayers, which shattered Sayers' knee and tearing all ligaments. A devastat- ing injury that ordinarily ends athletic careers, Sayers returned the following season and ran for over 1,000 yards for a Bears team that went 1-13. Sayers in 1969 won the NFL Comeback Player of the Year. Unfortunately, after his injury, Sayers rarely returned to his exciting
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