Quotes from Gale Sayers

You have to prepare to quit, and this is what I did. I prepared to quit, so on the day that came when I had to walk away from the game, I walked away and didn't look back.

We had no preconceived ideas. We were on this football team to go out and win ballgames and try to win a championship, that's all. To Brian and me, it was no big deal.

I learned that if you want to make it bad enough, no matter how bad it is, you can make it.

When you step onto that field, you cannot concede a thing.

I have no idea what I did. I heard people talk about dead leg, shake, change of pace and all that, but I did things without thinking about them.

I learned through his death that, hey, life is short. You think you're going to live to be 75 years of age, and Brian proved that you're not going to live that long.

Jay Cutler, he's a fine quarterback, but I think at times he gets a little nicked up.

You must prepare to quit, and they should start doing that from day one because the average life of a pro-football player is only three and a half years. It's not five. It's not seven. It's not 10.

Remember that. I ran from the line of scrimmage.

I ran back punt returns and kickoff returns, and I played a pretty good game.

This is not a football film. It's about two individuals - two good friends telling their story.

There are some people that probably should be in the Hall of Fame, but they're not for some reason.

I learned more of how to appreciate what I had then - my family, my kids, the talent that God gives you - because He can take it away at any time. He took it away from Brian through death. He took it away from me through my knees.

My knee was torn up. I tore every ligament in my knee. It was a very, very bad injury. I had to do what the doctors told me to do, and I did that. The next year, I came back and led the league in rushing.

What happens also is that a lot of those people and reporters who vote for Hall of Famers, some of the people who were around when Ray Guy was around, are deceased. And some of the reporters don't remember Ray Guy. He should have been in the Hall of Fame 15 years ago.

When I had my injury, I had gotten hit, and it hurt like hell.

I was playing in the league when Ray Guy was playing in the league. He was the best kicker I've ever seen. He could bullet that ball 70 yards.

We must stop the trend of closing schools and building prisons.

I don't care to be remembered as the man who scored six touchdowns in a game. I want to be remembered as a winner in life.

The Lord is first, my friends are second, and I am third.

Our young people look up to us. Let us not let them down. Our young people need us. Saving them will make heroes of us all.

I know with my knee injury, I didn't have the type of medical technology we have today. If I could've had what we had now, I probably could've been back out in three months. I didn't have that.

Halas didn't believe in starting rookies.

You need somebody just to say, 'Hey, I'm here for you. Do you need anything?' If you can get somebody like that, you can make it, no question about it. You can make it.