Omaha Central RB Gale Sayers picks NU after committing to Iowa State. Then goes to Kansas. Lol. Before my time. Why did he flip flop so much and why couldn't NU keep an Omaha talent like him in state?
This week 1961.. Gale Sayers
- Thread starter HBK4life_rivals100467
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The new sheriff coming to town, Bob Devaney, didn't have a chance to recruit Gale. KU had a good program going then under coach Jack Mitchell. The social scene for Gale going to Lawrence was probably more appealing at the time. After all Wilt Chamberlain made it from Philadelphia to Lawrence in the 1950's and no one could figure that out. Gale had an excellent career at KU but Devaney's teams reminded him that it is still a team sport.
Was born during the Jennings era and Bill never beat KU and had a .310 winning percentage...
Last 4 years we are seating at 36 winning percentage..
Last 4 years we are seating at 36 winning percentage..
Wasn't their some shady recruiting going on? KU offered Gales brother a ship or something like that??
Why the commitment to ISU then NU if Devaney didn't have a chance?
Wasn't Jennings our coach then anyways?
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Not sure the best person to ask now would be Monte Kiffen who played on the 61-63 Husker teams..
https://www.huskermax.com/games/1961/sayers_recruiting.html Behind the scenes, though, the University of Kansas was coming after him hard, even offering to bring Sayers’ older brother, Roger, to Lawrence in a package deal. After Roger Sayers’ school, Omaha University, complained to the NCAA, Kansas coach Jack Mitchell dropped that part of the offer but continued wooing Gale.
Let's hope that winning percentage improves in the next few years. Don't want to be comparing the current situation to the Bill Jennings era.
I think the ISU coach at the time, Clay Stapleton, had some pretty decent football teams when Gale was getting out of Omaha Central. At least compared to Jenning's teams they looked good.Why the commitment to ISU then NU if Devaney didn't have a chance?
Nebraska's top back recruit in that cycle was Kent McCloughan from Broken Bow. McCloughan rushed for 860 yards over his career from 1962-1964. Most importantly, McCloughan's team beat Sayers' team all three times they played. KU's records with Sayers on the varsity:
- 1962: 6-3-1, 4-2-1 in the conference behind Oklahoma, Missouri and Nebraska, lost to the Huskers 40-16. (Fun fact about that game: Nebraska scored five TDs and Kansas two TDs, and all of them were followed by successful two-point conversions.)
- 1963: 5-5, 3-4 in conference behind Nebraska, Oklahoma and Missouri, lost to the Huskers 23-9
- 1964: 6-4, 5-2 in conference behind Nebraska and Oklahoma, lost to the Huskers 14-7
Don’t know about the sororities, but yes Sayers had family ties to Kansas. Besides being born in Wichita, his ancestors were among those who settled Nicodemus - an interesting place that’s worth a visit if you like local history.