AMAZING gesture by the Bears honouring Brian Piccolo
Brian Piccolo is one of the names that has marked the Chicago Bears the most throughout their history. Indeed, Piccolo's story is truly a sad one that will stay in our minds forever.
After a 4 year career from 1965 to 1969, he was forced to quit the game...
During a game versus the Atlanta Falcons, he scored a fourth-quarter touchdown on a one-yard run, and then voluntarily removed himself from the game, something he had never done, raising great concern among his teammates and coaches. Breathing while playing had become extremely difficult for him, so when the team returned to Chicago he was promptly sent for a medical examination and diagnosed with embryonal cell carcinoma.
Soon after initial surgery at Sloan-Kettering in New York City to remove the tumour, he underwent a second procedure in April 1970 to remove his left lung and pectoral muscle. Bothered by chest pain afterward, he was re-admitted to the hospital in early June and doctors determined the cancer had spread to other organs, particularly his liver. He died in the early morning of June 16 at the age of 26. The month before Piccolo's death, Gale Sayers accepted the George S. Halas Award for Most Courageous Player and told the crowd they had selected the wrong person for the award. He said, "I love Brian Piccolo, and I'd like all of you to love him, too. Tonight, when you hit your knees to pray, please ask God to love him, too."
Sayers and Dick Butkus were among the six Bears teammates who served as pallbearers at Piccolo's funeral at Christ the King Catholic Church in Chicago on June 19.
The Bears made an amazing gesture today by making all the players wear jerseys with the number 41. On this day 52 years ago, Brian Piccolo passed away.
Kevin Fishbain reported that George McCaskey is also in a Piccolo jersey and that Piccolo's family is in attendance as well.
