Brian Piccolo (1943–1970) was the former fullback and running back for the National Football League's Chicago Bears, until he died at the age of twenty-six of embryonal cell carcinoma. Piccolo was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts to Joseph and Irene Piccolo, and was the youngest of three brothers. His family moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida when he was three years old. He attended Central Catholic High School and was the star running back. He attended Wake Forest University on a football scholarship. In his senior year, he set nine school records and was named Atlantic Coast Conference player of the year. He joined the Bears in 1965 as a free agent and had his most productive season in 1968. During that season he ran for a career-high 450 yards, scored two touchdowns on 123 attempts and had twenty-eight receptions for 291 yards. His accomplishments came to light mainly in the last six games of the season after friend and teammate Gale Sayers sustained a season-ending knee injury in a game against the San Francisco 49ers. Sayers and Piccolo were both rookies in the Bear’s 1965 team. The two were the first interracial roommates in the NFL, which came during a time of racial strife across the nation. Piccolo played his last football game on November 16, 1969. His career ended after taking himself out of the game due to difficulty breathing. This shortness of breath was a symptom of embryonal cell carcinoma. He had surgery shortly after but the cancer returned in February of the following year. After months of chemotherapy, he underwent a mastectomy and had lymph nodes removed from his chest. In April of that year, Piccolo had his left lung removed but the cancer had already spread to other parts of his body. Piccolo died June 16, 1970 and is buried at St. Mary Catholic Cemetery in Evergreen Park. He was survived by his wife Joy and his three daughters. Piccolo’s life inspired the made for television film “Brian’s Song,” which was loosely based off of Sayers’ autobiography and tells the story of their friendship. After Piccolo’s death The Brian Piccolo Cancer Research Fund was created and due to their research in the 70s and 80s, Piccolo's disease, which was once a death sentence, now has a 95% survival rate. Today the Fund focuses on breast cancer research at Rush Medical Center in Chicago and provides support to the Clearbrook Center for the developmentally disabled in Arlington Heights. Overall, over $13 million has been raised in Piccolo’s name for cancer research. Brian Piccolo was inducted into the Wake Forest Sports Hall of Fame in 1970 following his death. In 1972, Brian Piccolo Middle School opened in Far Rockaway, Queens. The students at the school decided on the name after watching the film “Brian’s Song.”