Shaun Lanard Gayle (born March 8, 1962) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player who was a

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He played twelve seasons, eleven for the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...

(1984–1994), and one for the

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team in the National Football League (NFL). The Chargers played in San Diego, California from 1961 until 2016, before relocating back to the Greater Los Angeles area, where the franch ...

(1995). He attended

Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...

and was drafted by the Bears in the tenth round of the 1984 NFL Draft.

Football career

Gayle was a member of the Bears squad that won

Super Bowl XX Super Bowl XX was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Chicago Bears and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for ...

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

. He was also a member of the "Shuffling Crew" in "

The Super Bowl Shuffle "The Super Bowl Shuffle" is a song performed by the Chicago Bears football team (credited as the Chicago Bears Shufflin' Crew) in . It was released in December 1985 on Chicago-based Red Label Records and distributed through Capitol Records seven ...

", where he was part of the chorus; Gayle recalled years later that "some of us just wanted to be in the back." He owns the distinction of returning the shortest punt for a touchdown in NFL history, when he returned a punt five yards for a touchdown against the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The ...

in the Bears' 1985 divisional playoff victory. He is also known for delivering a late blow to

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners and nicknamed the Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member ...

quarterback

Steve Young Jon Steven Young (born October 11, 1961) is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 15 seasons, most notably with the San Francisco 49ers. He also played for the Tampa Bay Bu ...

while a member of the Bears; the incident occurred in the end zone during a playoff game after Young scored a rushing touchdown. Following the hit, Young spiked the football in Gayle's direction, and Gayle was then confronted by other 49ers players in a brief melee. He often appears with former teammates at Bears fan conventions, and works as an NFL analyst for

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British broadcasting of sports events, subscription sports channels operated by the satellite television, satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television ...

, appearing on the weekly NFL broadcast.

Personal life

Murder of Rhoni Reuter

Gayle had a relationship with Rhoni Reuter, originally of

Potosi, Wisconsin Potosi is a village in Grant County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 646 at the 2020 census. The village is in the Town of Potosi. History Potosi is located where Wisconsin's lead ore belt intersects with the Mississippi. The pos ...

. On October 4, 2007, Reuter was about seven months pregnant with Gayle's child when she was shot and killed at her condominium in

Deerfield, Illinois Deerfield is a village in Lake County, Illinois, Lake and Cook County, Illinois, Cook counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. A northern Chicago metropolitan area, suburb of Chicago, Deerfield is located on the North Shore (Chicago), North Shore, ...

. On March 3, 2009, a Chicago woman, Marni Yang, 41, was arrested and charged with two counts of first-degree murder. Yang was also in a relationship with Gayle. It was alleged that Yang was wearing a disguise when she shot and killed Reuter in a jealous rage. In March 2011, Yang was convicted of first-degree murder for the killing. Yang's attorney has asserted that Gayle provided false information to the police, and that his whereabouts were unknown for the time of the murder. , the case was under judicial review.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gayle, Shaun 1962 births Living people Players of American football from Newport News, Virginia American football cornerbacks American football safeties Ohio State Buckeyes football players Chicago Bears players National Conference Pro Bowl players San Diego Chargers players Brian Piccolo Award winners