May 7, 1999
The gift from Sayers, of Chicago, to the Kansas University Endowment Association will furnish and equip the Gale Sayers Microcomputer Center in the future home of the School of Education to be located in Joseph R. Pearson Hall, 1122 West Campus Road in Lawrence.
"This is a tremendous gift from one of our most loyal alumni," Gallagher said. "It recognizes the KU School of Education's high standards and vision for preparing quality educators to teach the nation's youth. Mr. Sayers' generous gift will provide state-of-the-art technology in the school's new teacher education facility, which will greatly enhance all our professional education programs as well as our capacity to do research."
Sayers will attend the groundbreaking ceremony for the project at 1:30 p.m. Saturday in 110 Budig Hall. The ceremony is open to the public. He also participated Friday in the 6th Annual Gale Sayers Golf Tournament, which raises money for scholarships for the School of Education. The tournament at the Alvamar Golf and Country Club started at noon.
The School of Education is planning its move into the newly renovated Pearson Hall in the fall of 2000. The state of Kansas is spending $14.1 million to renovate the building, which originally was constructed as a men's dormitory in 1958, and to construct the building's new Teacher Education Center. An additional $3 million in private funds is needed to complete the facility, providing the equipment and furnishings for its classrooms, laboratories and special resource centers.
"My connections to the University of Kansas go beyond football, to the comprehensive educational foundation I received," Sayers said. "Every day I utilize that knowledge as president and CEO of Sayers Computer Source, and I credit my years at Kansas with helping me evolve into a business professional. I consider it an honor that the School of Education's microcomputer center will be named after me, and I know that the center will provide thousands of students with the skills it takes to become the business professionals of the future."
Born in Wichita in 1943, Sayers attended KU, where he played football for the Kansas Jayhawks. Known as the "Kansas Comet," Sayers was a two-time All-American tailback. He still holds an NCAA record for his 99-yard touchdown run against Nebraska as a junior. In 1965, Sayers was drafted by the NFL's Chicago Bears, and played for Chicago for six years. After completing his professional football career, Sayers joined CBS Television as a football analyst for two years. He then returned to KU, where he completed his bachelor's degree in physical education in 1975. He stayed on at KU as assistant director of the Williams Education Fund and obtained his master's degree in educational administration in 1977.
Sayers was the athletic director at Southern Illinois University from 1976-1981 and soon launched a sports marketing and public relations firm, Sayers and Sayers Enterprises. In 1982, Sayers and his wife, Ardythe, founded a computer reseller firm. Seventeen years later, Sayers Computer Source has ten branches across the United States and has revenues of more than $150 million. In February 1999, Sayers was inducted into the Chicago Area Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame.
For KU, Sayers is a member of the KU Alumni Association and School of Education National Advisory Board. He previously served on the National Board of Directors for the Alumni Association.
Sayers' gift will be administered by the KU Endowment Association, an independent, nonprofit organization serving as the official fund-raising and fund-management foundation for the university. Founded in 1891, the KU Endowment Association is the oldest foundation of its type at a public university in the United States and one of the largest.
Story by Kathleen Brady