Pro Football Hall of Famer and former Chicago Bears star running back Gale Sayers is the 2008 recipient of the PeyBack Award.

The PeyBack Award is presented each year by the PeyBack Foundation to someone currently or formerly involved in professional football who exhibits character, integrity, honor, and who has given back to the game and society.  Based on these criteria, Gale Sayers is a perfect choice.

Sayers will open The Gale Sayers Center in the fall of 2009. The center will provide, at no cost, an accelerated after-school learning environment for children ages 8-12. It will feature computer classrooms, a mentoring and motivation program, a Jr. Toastmasters program that will introduce children to public speaking, a nutrition awareness program, and much more.  

Sayers personally and professionally devotes a great deal of time supporting and fundraising for a variety of charitable organizations, and speaks on behalf of many organizations. His commitment to the community includes the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, Marklund Children's Home, Boy Scouts of America, American Cancer Society, Better Boys Foundation, Junior Achievement and the Cradle Adoption Agency.

He began his professional football career in 1965, earning NFL Rookie of the Year accolades. In his rookie campaign, he racked up a then-record 2,272 all-purpose yards and scored 22 touchdowns. He led the NFL in rushing in his second season. Sayers totaled 9,435 combined net yards, 4,956 yards rushing and he scored 336 points in just 4.5 seasons as his career was cut short due to injury in 1972. He was a five-time All-Pro selection and played in four Pro Bowls (named MVP of three). Sayers was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame in 1977 as the youngest player ever to be honored.

Past recipients of the PeyBack Award include retired All-Pro running back Marshall Faulk, All-Pro linebacker Derrick Brooks, Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterbacks Roger Staubach and Dan Marino, and Connie Payton, wife of the late Walter Payton.

We are pleased to present the PeyBack Award to Gale Sayers.  He truly embodies the spirit of the PeyBack Award through his dedication to serving underprivileged youth.