Watching the Superbowl yesterday made me think of Brian Piccolo. Brian played for the Chicago Bears from 1965 until 1969. He was diagnosed with embryonal cell carcinoma, it was almost 100% fatal at the time of his diagnosis. Sadly, Brian Piccolo died on June 16, 1970 at the age of twenty six, leaving his wife and three daughters.
Chicago mourned the death of Brian Piccolo and he became a legend when the television movie Brian's Song was released in 1971. I remember the showing of that movie in my grade school years. There wasn't a dry eye in the auditorium.
Bears running back, Gale Sayers uttered these famous words in May 1970, as he accepted the NFL's most Courageous Player award. Sayers told the crowd that they had selected the wrong person for the honor, and would accept it only on Piccolo's behalf. He said " I love Brian Piccolo, and I'd like all of you to love him. When you hit your knees to pray tonight, please ask God to love him, too".
After Piccolo's death, the Brian Piccolo Cancer Research Fund was established, and millions of dollars have been donated to the cause of finding a cure to various forms of the disease. Thanks in part to those funds raised in the Piccolo's name, with early detection and treatment, this disease is now almost completely curable.
There are also a few books you can read about Brian:
Gale Sayers' autobiography I am Third.
