Alva Review-Courier -

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 fit.

Sayers, 24 at the time, was already an established star, a soft-spoken Black man who generally raised his voice only when matters of social justice were discussed. Piccolo, the same age, was white, an inveterate talker and joker who was competing with Sayers for playing time in the backfield after being undrafted and clambering from the taxi squad onto the game-day roster.

But the enduring friend...