LAKE FOREST – Growing up in Chicago in the 1960s the guys that cemented my love affair with the National Football League beyond my dad were George Halas, Vince Lombardi, Jim Brown, Dick Butkus and Gale Sayers.
When Sayers passed away Wednesday at the age of 77 after a long battle with dementia related illnesses, the sports world lost not only one of the greatest running backs of all time but one of its best known icons.
Hoping to be a tough guy myself some day, what spoke to me about Brown and Butkus was they are the two most physically dominant players I’ve ever seen.