Chicago Bears: Remembering Brian Piccolo and his enduring legacy

Brian Piccolo’s Chicago Bears career was short but impactful.

If you are a Chicago Bears fan, then there is a pretty good chance you have seen the movie Brian’s Song, and if you have not, then it should be next on your list.

For those that are not at least familiar with the story, it captures the incredible and beautiful bond between former Chicago Bears running backs Brian Piccolo (played by James Caan) and Gale Sayers (played by Billy Dee Williams).

The movie chronicles the relationship between Piccolo, who passed away 50 years ago today, and Sayers, starting when they were rookies in 1965. As you may already know, Piccolo’s Bears career is very short-lived as he is diagnosed with cancer, which ultimately takes him on June 16, 1970.

Besides being an absolute tear-jerker at times, the movie carries with it an incredibly important message. Despite their distinctly different backgrounds and their relatively short time together, Piccolo and Sayers formed an incredibly strong and unbreakable bond.

This is pretty remarkable considering the circumstances under which their relationship was formed. Not only were they each competing for the same running back position, but as noted above, they each came from racially diverse backgrounds.

In fact, Piccolo and Sayers would eventually become the first interracial roommates in the history of the NFL.

Despite these circumstances, the two set it all aside and forged a true friendship because each saw in the other their character, spirit, and human qualities. It might be easy to forget now, but when you take into consideration the societal climate of the late 1960s and the fact that these two were competing against one another for their jobs, you realize the significance of their relationship and what it endured.

It is yet another example of sports reflecting the ideals we hope for as a society while transcending the obstacles that stand in the way of us getting there.

As society continues to grapple with the injustices and inequalities we see today, the lessons learned from their relationship should not be lost on us. They were two human beings who saw past the superficial and connected with what made them who they truly were. That’s a message that endures fifty years later and is a part of Piccolo’s legacy.