33. Roger Sayers
Track & Field / Omaha / Born: 1942
QUICK FACTS:
Played for: Omaha Central High, Omaha University and Team USA
Best athlete from Nebraska played with or against: Gale Sayers and Marlin Briscoe, NFL-bound teammates in high school and college. His brother, Gale, is a Pro Football Hall of Famer.
Best moment as an athlete: Competing for the U.S. track team in 1962 in duals against Poland and the Soviet Union. "That was one of the best USA track teams ever assembled, and being a part of that team was my greatest moment as an athlete," he said.
Born in Wichita, Kan., Roger Sayers moved to Omaha as a 9-year-old fourthgrader in 1951. Just more than 10 years later, he was a world-class sprinter who defeated world record holder Bob Hayes for the NAIA national championship in the 100-yard dash.
Like younger brother Gale, Sayers was also a football star, but he was never torn between football and track because of the timing of those seasons. It was baseball, played during track season, that he hated giving up.
A center fielder, he played for a team coached by Bob Gibson's older brother, Josh. And, although he rushed for 2,033 yards in his career at Omaha University -- still No. 10 in school history -- he said he didn't have the size to pursue a football career.
"I was 5-foot-9 and 155 pounds," he said. "Gale was 6-foot and 200. You've got to have the physical attributes, as well as the skills, to play football at that level."
He won back-to-back NAIA championships in the 100 in 1962 and 1963, running a 9.5 each year. He ran 21.0 to win the 200 in 1963. His 100-meter time of 10.2 in 1962 was tied for second best in the world, and his 200 time was tied for fifth. Yet, he pulled a thigh muscle in 1964 and wasn't able to compete for a spot on the Olympic team.
Hayes, who would later star as a Dallas Cowboys wide receiver, won the gold medal in the 100. "I couldn't heal fast enough to be considered for the Olympic trials," Sayers said. "I did some petitioning and tried to get some waivers, but there wasn't enough time. I'd like to think I would have had a real good chance at making the team."
In those days, amateur athletes had very little means to continue competing, so Sayers never considered hanging around and making a run at the 1968 Olympics.
-- Rob White
QUICK FACTS:
Played for: Omaha Central High, Omaha University and Team USA
Best athlete from Nebraska played with or against: Gale Sayers and Marlin Briscoe, NFL-bound teammates in high school and college. His brother, Gale, is a Pro Football Hall of Famer.
Best moment as an athlete: Competing for the U.S. track team in 1962 in duals against Poland and the Soviet Union. "That was one of the best USA track teams ever assembled, and being a part of that team was my greatest moment as an athlete," he said.
