William D. Sayers

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - Native Staten Islander William D. (Giggy) Sayers, 81, of Dongan Hills, a top athlete who was a star of the Staten Island diamond and gridiron for many years, died Friday in the Staten Island University Hospital, Ocean Breeze.

Born in Stapleton, he moved to Queens before moving to New Brighton in 1975. He settled in Dongan Hills in 1984.

Mr. Sayers worked for 15 years as a shipping clerk for Colahan & Saunders, Manhattan, retiring in 1994. Prior to that, he worked for 20 years with an affiliate of Sam Goody's in Manhattan.

After his retirement, he served as an ambassador to the South Shore Golf Course.

Mr. Sayers attended McKee High School.

Mr. Sayers was a star of Staten Island's diamond and gridiron for many teams including being on the Tompkinsville Blue Jays and the Brown Bombers.

At 15, Mr. Sayers was the first black to play for the Huttner-Pasqualini American Legion Post.

Mr. Sayers was a cousin of the great Don Newcombe, a Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher, and in a Staten Island Advance article dated Oct. 7, 2007, talked about attending the Don Newcombe Day at the Brooklyn Cyclones' Keyspan Park, which happened on his Mr. Sayer's 75th birthday.

Because of his cousin's long association with the Dodgers, both in Brooklyn and Los Angeles, Mr. Sayers scouted the Island's sandlots and high schools for the team.

"It's a non-paying job," he told the Advance. "I do it as a favor to Don."

Both Mr. Sayers and his brother, Clarence, played for many of the same teams, including Leiblich Bakery, the Rinky-Dinks and Granito-Smith, the New Brighton American Legion post.

Mr. Sayer served as a private in the U.S. Army serving in the Korea War from 1950 to 1953.

Before shipping out to Korea, he was stationed at Fort Benning, Ga., where he played baseball and football. According to the same Advance article, Mr. Sayers baseball teammates included Larry Doby, who broke the color line in the American League, and Monte Irvin, whose great clutch hitting during the New York Giants' 16-game winning streak in the 1951 stretch drive set up Bobby Thomson's famous pennant-winning homer.

In the same Advance article, friend and sportsmen Nick Bilotti told the Advance: "If I had to pick the best hitters I saw from my era, the late 1940s to the present. They would be Jerry Stoutland, Donnie Rizzo, Julie Bowers, Terry Crowley and Giggy Sayers."

"He could hit the ball off the ground, it didn't matter where it was pitched," said Bilotti. "He likened Sayers' hitting style to that of Roberto Clemente without the power. He was a line-drive hitter."

Mr. Sayers was a member of the Allan F. Kivlehan chapter, Korean War Veterans.

He was a member of St. Matthew's Lutheran Church, Dongan Hills.

He enjoyed playing all sports especially golf.

"He was a marvelous, dedicated person, he knew everything, loved Jeopardy and was sports enthusiast," said his wife, the former Karen Codrington.

Along with his wife, Karen, also surviving are two sons, Jay and Guy; one daughter, JoAnne Sayers; four grandchildren, and one great-granddaughter.

The funeral will be Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the Virginia Funeral Home, Dongan Hills. Arrangements include cremation.