20 Iconic Athletes That Were Unfortunately Made of Glass

Gale Sayers

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Sayers was as electric of a ball carrier the football world has ever seen. The brash Chicago back would often say about himself “Give me 18 inches of daylight, that’s all I need” — meaning Sayers needed the slightest sliver of an opening to burst out into the open field. His quickness and ability to make players miss was akin to a player like Barry Sanders.

In Sayers’ rookie year, he scored an NFL-record of 22 touchdowns and gained 2,272 all-purpose yards. The next season, Sayers won the rushing title with 1,231 yards on the ground. Unfortunately in 1968 (just one week after Sayers enjoyed the best game of his career), Sayers went down with an ACL, MCL, and meniscus tear.

The road back to the league was tough for Sayers, but he did return and lead the league in rushing once more. However, following an injury to his other knee, Sayers was forced to call it quits after playing in just 68 NFL games.