Piccolo died June 16, 1970. "Brian’s Song," based on Sayers’ 1970 memoir "I Am Third" (written with sportswriter Al Silverman), explored the unlikely bromance.

4. “Brian’s Song” aired 17 months after Piccolo died. On Nov. 30, 1971, ABC first broadcast the 73-minute made-for-TV movie, which focused on the relationship between Sayers and Piccolo.

On this date 52 years ago, former Bears running back Brian Piccolo died of embryonal cell carcinoma -- a rare testicular cancer. Because of his extended battle with the terminal disease (which ...

On the anniversary of Brian Piccolo's death Thursday, all 90 players at the Bears’ final day of mandatory minicamp donned the running back's No. 41 jersey to honor his memory.

The Chicago Bears paid special tribute to Brian Piccolo on Thursday, as all 90 players wore No. 41 jerseys during their minicamp practice. Piccolo, a Bears running back from 1966 to 1969, was ...

Originally released in 1971 as an ABC Movie of the Week, Brian’s Song depicted life and death of the Bears’ Brian Piccolo, Sayers’ complement in the Chicago backfield.

Morris completed the project shortly after Piccolo passed away, and "Brian Piccolo: A Short Season" was published in 1971. In conjunction with the 50th anniversary of his death—which is Tuesday—the ...

When Chicago Bears teammates Gale Sayers and Brian Piccolo became roommates in 1967, the first time NFL players of different colors shared accommodations on the road, it hardly looked like a good ...

SportsCentury's profile of Brian Piccolo, the backup Chicago Bears running back who died of cancer at 26, will explore his collegiate and pro careers, the Bears' roommate integration in 1967, his ...

Piccolo passed away several months later. Following his death, the Brian Piccolo Cancer Research Fund was established and proceeds were sent to the Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York for ...

Piccolo, a running back at Wake Forest who was the ACC athlete of the year in 1965, played for the NFL’s Chicago Bears before being diagnosed with cancer. He died in 1970 at 26.

Piccolo died on June 16, 1970. "Brian Piccolo, Brian the fighter, Brian of the stout heart, lost the big one," Tribune columnist Robert Markus wrote that day. "He never had a chance.