NFL Legend Gale Sayers Remembered As Accomplished Tech Solution Provider

“Gale made who ever he met with feel like they were the most important person in the room,” says Randy Seidl, who as a top sales leader for Hewlett Packard, EMC and Sun Microsystems went on several dozen sales calls and attended numerous golf outings with Sayers, “Gale was a great listener and was able to form a special connection with who ever he was meeting with.”

When NFL legend Gale Sayers made sales calls as the founder of Sayers Technology Services he brought a focus on customers that resulted in deep and long lasting relationships in the sales trenches.

“Gale made whoever he met with feel like they were the most important person in the room,” said Randy Seidl, who as a top sales leader for Hewlett Packard, EMC and Sun Microsystems went on several dozen sales calls and attended numerous golf outings with Sayers. “Gale was a great listener and was able to form a special connection with whoever he was meeting with.”

At the same time, Sayers had a humility that is rare in the world of superstar athletes, said Seidl. “Gale was very humble,” he said. “If you were in a boardroom with him, you wouldn’t pick him out as an ex-athlete. He didn’t need to be the center of attention. That’s very unique, especially in today’s razzle dazzle, glitzy sports culture.”

Sayers, a Chicago Bears running back who played seven seasons in the NFL from 1965 to 1972 and who remains the youngest player ever inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, passed away Wednesday at the age of 77 reportedly as a result of complications from Alzheimer’s and dementia. Sayers’ humility and humanity was popularized in the hit TV movie “Brian’s Song,” which chronicled the close friendship he had with teammate Brian Piccolo, who died of cancer at the age of 26 in 1970. The relationship between Sayers, who was Black, and Piccolo, who was White, was notable for the era given that they were the NFL’s first interracial roommates.

Seidl, who is the current CEO of Top Talent Recruiting, Revenue Acceleration, and Sales Community, says Sayers’ legacy goes beyond the football field to the business world, where he made his mark founding one of the top technology service providers in the country, Sayers Technology Services, No. 156 on the 2020 CRN Solution Provider 500.

“Besides being an NFL legend, a big part of Gale’s legacy is as an accomplished business leader,” said Seidl. “He reinvented himself as a technology consultant business leader. He could have coasted on his football celebrity, but he wanted to do more and be part of the technology solutions business.”

Sayers founded the company in the Chicago area in 1984, according to the company’s website. “Gale brought the same work ethic and focus on teamwork and leadership to the business world that he was so well known for as a player in the NFL,” says the company on its website.

CRN reached out to Sayers Technology Services for comment but did not hear back as of press time.

Given the rapidly shifting technology landscape, it is no small matter that the firm Sayers founded still bears his name and is thriving, said Seidl.

“Gale was tech savvy and was genuinely interested in how technology could help customers,” said Seidl. “He was very hands-on with the business, but would also empower his team to do whatever they needed to do to make sure customers were successful.”

Sayers exhibited the same desire to win in the business world that he displayed on the football field, said Seidl. “He brought the same drive to win in business that he brought to the football field,” he said.