Gale Sayers earned acclaim both as a halfback and return specialist for the Chicago Bears in a brief but highly productive NFL career from 1965 to 1971. Though multiple injuries effectively limited him to five seasons of play. He was known for his elusiveness and agility and was regarded by his peers as one of the most difficult players to tackle. In his rookie NFL season, he set a league record by scoring 22 touchdowns—including a record-tying six in one game—and gained 2,272 all-purpose yards en route to being named the NFL's Rookie of the Year. George “Papa Bear” Halas was the founder, owner, and head coach of the Bears, and was one of the co-founders of the National Football League in 1920.

Presented is a typed letter with Halas’s signature on Chicago Bears letterhead, dated December 28, 1972, commenting on Sayers’ then-recent retirement.  Halas has signed the letter in blue pen on the blue-typewritten letter to Mr. Thomas J. Kassel, Jr. of Lyons, Illinois.  The ivory 8 ½ x 11-inch sheet has the bears logo across the top in orange and blue with a cartoon bear catching a football, and a small Bears logo, “Chicago Bears World Champions Eight Times” in blue in the bottom left corner. The letter is accompanied by a typewritten standard envelope addressed to Kassel on Bears stationery, with an eight-cent stamp and a December 29, 1972 Chicago postmark. The envelope has been opened on the right end. This item comes with a full LOA from JSA (BB11142).

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