Gale Sayers

Sayers, one of football's most outstanding running backs of all time, is making history of a different sort these days. After becoming a football legend in only 68 games, Sayers spent about eight years in college athletics, working first as assistant athletic director at the University of Kansas and then as athletic director at Southern Illinois University. In 1981 Sayers, with the help of his wife, decided to go into business for himself in the Chicago area. His first venture, Sayers and Sayers Enterprises, specialized in sports marketing and public relations. In 1984 the Sayers founded a computer supplies firm called Crest Computer Supply Company. The company, later renamed Sayers Computer Source, eventually evolved into the Sayers Group LLC, a provider of national technology solutions with annual revenue of more than $300 million. Sayers in 1999 was inducted into the Chicago Area Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame and also named an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year.