Track & Field: Athletic success is part of this family’s tradition

The assignment for Jarrett Proby and his third-grade classmates at Fullerton Elementary was simple — do a research project about a famous person from Omaha.

Jarrett knew instantly about whom he wanted to write: Grandpa Gale.

As things turned out, the teacher assigned Gale Sayers to a classmate. Jarrett would have made quick work of that topic.

“Jarrett helped him with the report,” said Jarrett’s mother, Gale Sayers-Proby, “and he asked him if some of the things he read about were true.”

Jarrett surely would have made certain his friend included the highlights: NFL Hall of Fame running back. Star at Omaha Central and Kansas. Legendary career with the Chicago Bears shortened by a knee injury.

Gale made the Sayers name known far and wide. Now, both 9-year-old Jarrett and older brother Jordan, 12, are starting to make names for themselves in another of Sayers’ favorite sports — track and field.

On Saturday Jarrett will compete in the Bantam Boys (ages 10-and-under) mini-javelin at the 43rd annual USA Track and Field National Junior Olympics in Greensboro, N.C.

Jordan Proby runs the 200 and competes in the long jump — an event in which his grandpa held the state high school record for more than 40 years.

Jordan’s season ended early, however, after suffering a hip injury while competing in the long jump at Burke Stadium during last month’s Nebraska Association Junior Olympics.

Whether Jarrett wins a medal this weekend in Greensboro isn’t what matters most to Grandpa Gale.

“It’s nice for him to be in the national finals,” Gale Sayers said. “What I’m concerned about is that he’s a good student, because if you get your degree, you can do whatever you want to do in life.”

Jarrett knows his grandpa is rooting for him from afar. Sayers still lives in Chicago and said during a telephone interview earlier this month that he’d try to get to Greensboro.

“I think he would push me,” Jarrett said. “Not real hard, but to the best of my ability. He tells me I have to be persistent about doing things and doing them the right way.”

Sayers-Proby said her sons know that their grandpa is still considered by many to be the greatest running back who ever played.

“(Jarrett) thinks he can run like his granddad sometimes, but right now he’s just doing track,” Sayers-Proby said. “He’s too young for football right now, but he’s starting to talk about it.”

Jarrett smiles and gives a big “no” when asked if he tries in his backyard to make some of the moves he’s seen his grandpa make on highlight tapes. He’s learned a lot about grandpa from the family copy of “Brian’s Song,” and they’ve also visited the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.

“We saw his statue there,” Jarrett said. “They had a lot of other things, and he has a lot of stuff at his house.”

The Probys moved to Omaha from Atlanta in 2006 when Sayers-Proby’s husband, Idrian, a division manager for UPS, was transferred.

Sayers-Proby, the human resources director for the Omaha Housing Authority, said she’s flattered when asked if she’s related to Gale Sayers.

“People ask me about it all the time,” she said. “It’s something I’ve grown up with my entire life, and it’s actually kind of complimentary. The man I know is not a football player to me because I never saw him play.”

The next time he goes to Chicago to spend some time with grandpa, Jarrett will have some medals of his own to show, maybe even one from Greensboro. Sayers is looking forward to his grandsons’ visit, but it probably won’t happen during football season, even though Sayers-Proby confirms that her dad has “great seats” at Soldier Field.

Going to a Bears game would mean missing school, and that doesn’t fly with grandpa.

“It’s tough for them to go to a game on Sunday afternoon and get back to Omaha in time for school the next morning,” Sayers said. “We talk a lot on the phone, and we get together when we can. Omaha’s not that far from Chicago.”

Contact the writer:

444-1201, alexsdad@mail.com

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