Brian’s Song (1971)
This 1971 TV movie about Brian Piccolo, a Wake Forest University football player stricken with terminal cancer after turning pro, is told through his friendship with teammate Gale Sayers, who helps him through the difficult struggle. The story devotes a lot of time to the then-provocative pairing of the two men, one white and one Black, but the eventual cancer storyline demonstrates the universal theme of one man helping another.
