Close your eyes for a moment and imagine that you are Hall of Fame running back Barry Sanders. Now, imagine all of the fan mail you would receive if you were the greatest running back ever to step onto a football field.
Ok, open your eyes. (I’m guessing you never closed them or you would not have gotten to this point…am I right?)
Barry received a plethora of letters from fans throughout the years and he always did his best to respond to each of those letters, even if it meant having people from “TEAM SANDERS” send out signed cards on his behalf.
But, according to a letter which was sent out in early July, there was a batch of fan mail that was sent to the Pontiac Silverdome in the early 2000s that never got to him. Now, thanks to help from Michael Rothstein of ESPN, Barry is planning on getting back to each of those fans.
From ESPN:
The kids who wrote Sanders are now adults. Some of the senior citizens who wrote him are deceased. Sanders said all of them will get some sort of response.
“It’s meaningful,” Sanders said. “It just shows what kind of career I was able to have and that I was able to connect with a lot of fans in that way, you know. I’m proud of that. I remember being a fan. I never wrote anyone, but I followed players religiously, so I kind of understand a little bit of that feeling behind the letters. It’s a big honor.”
Rothstein reached out to some of the fans of the ‘lost letters’ that were originally sent and got their thoughts on Barry taking the time to respond, even though it’s a bit late. I HIGHLY encourage you to click here to read Rothstein’s piece, it is amazing.
Below is the letter Barry sent out to each of the fans who sent him one of the ‘lost letters’ back in the early 2000s.
It would have been very easy for Sanders to just trash the letters and never mention them again, but instead, he showed the type of person he is by responding, even if the responses are a bit later than expected.
Well done, Barry!
