NFL great Gale Sayers, who inspired the 1971 ABC TV movie Brian's Song, dies at 77

https://deadline.com/2020/09/gale-sayers-brian-piccolo-brians-song-telepic-dies-at-77-1234582663/

The Pro Football Hall of Fame running back for the Chicago Bears, who was nicknamed "The Kansas Comet," was played by Billy Dee Williams in Brian's Song. The movie was based on his memoir I Am Third, about his cross-racial friendship with white Bears teammate Brian Piccolo, played by James Caan, who was stricken with terminal cancer and later died at age 26. Brian's Song, airing as part of ABC's "Movie of the Week," had a massive viewership was for a short time the most-watched made-for-TV movie ever made, winning three Emmys.