Brian’s Song, for most people at least, was a very touching story about a man named Brian Piccolo, who for his whole life was number two. Throughout college he had very much been into competition. Later in life while playing on the Chicago Bears he met a man, Gale Sayers, who had been number one, so the competition started all over again. During the training and tryouts, Brian and Gale were chosen to be the first black and white players on the team to room together, and from the beginning it was tough. Other major events occurred during this time. Brian was on the border of being dropped from the team. Gale was injured. As soon as Brian learned of the injury, he began working Gale back into shape, but only for the one reason of beating him out of the position of halfback, After Gale recovered, he and Brian were chosen as a two man team working together. But they were eventually split up. Sometime later they learned that Brian Piccolo had cancer!

He had one lung removed. Just as Brian was ready to play again, he found out that he had to have another operation, sending him into despair. At the end of the weekend, the operation was found to be a failure and in June 1970 Brian Piccolo died of lung cancer. The people he knew and loved remember him not only as a person, and not for the way he died, but for how he lived, oh how he lived.

By Michael Fox