Gale Sayers is a former NFL running back for the Chicago Bears. There is a movie called Brian’s Song made about his friend, Brian, and himself. He and Brian were great friends when they played for the Bears together. Brian was diagnosed with cancer at age twenty- six. He was an amazing friend to Brian and was there for him in his final days. He has many great traits, like being hard-working, mature, and calm.

Gale is a very hard-working person. He worked hard to earn the starting job as a rookie in the NFL, which isn’t an easy thing to do. He also worked hard to get his knee back in shape after he hurt it. Brian is the reason he was able to play again after his knee injury. Brian pushed him to work hard to strengthen his knee so he could once again be an awesome player. If Gale wasn’t hard-working, he wouldn’t have done anything to get his knee back in shape. He most likely would have just let it heal on its own and saw how it felt after that. If he would have done that, he wouldn’t have been an all-star player like he was before he got hurt. That shows me that he is a very hard-working person. In addition to being hard-working, Gale was also mature.

In the movie, Gale was portrayed as a extremely mature person. He didn’t make a big deal about staying in the same hotel room with a white person on trips. A black person and a white one rooming together was unheard of, and Gale was very mature about it. Also, he was very mature when he heard the news that his friend had been diagnosed with cancer. Instead of letting the coach tell the team, he went and did it himself. He could have not even played in the game that day. He could have just grieved about his friend, but instead he went out and played; dedicating the game to his friend. In my opinion, that was very mature of him. I think he was very mature when he was at the hospital with Brian in his last moments. He didn’t let Brian see how sad and upset he was. He handled that situation very well and very maturely. To go along with being hard-working and mature, Gale was calm in tough times.

Mr. Sayers was a very calm person, even when things were going bad. When his wife called to tell him to hurry to the hospital, he was very calm. He didn’t get upset right then or anything like that. He was also calm when the doctor came in and told Brian they were going to have to do another procedure. He stayed calm and talked to the doctor alone and told him that Brian wasn’t ready yet. Another time he was calm was when he was with Brian on his death bed. He didn’t cry or show him how worried he was. Gale knew that if he wasn’t calm, and his emotions came through, it wouldn’t be good for Brian or anyone. Brian wouldn’t have had a very good last few moments if Gale would have been crying and letting all his grief out. Gale was very calm, and that was a good thing for Brian in his last few moments. Gale’s calmness is a very admirable trait to have.

Gale Sayers has taught me how to be a respectable person and what traits you need to have in order to be an all around awesome person. Traits like being hard-working, mature, and calm all come together to form that kind of a person. Gale has set an example for others to follow. All of the traits that he possessed spelled greatness. He was a great running back, but in my opinion, he is an even better person of character.