This is a book that I would recommend to everyone.
Payton was arguably one of the best (if not the best) American Football player to have ever lived. Read this book by written by Payton with Don Yeager and you will discover not only why he was a great football player, but also why he was an incredible human being.
Written in the last weeks of Payton’s life, this is probably the best book I have ever read, about anything. I found it impossible not to become inspired, emotional, and just plain awed by his greatness, his humility, and the perspective he brought to his own life and the way he related to those around him.
Without any intention to infringe copyright (or spoil the book), here are some selected sections, which without even coming close to telling the whole story will give you a flavour.
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The most prolific running back in the history of the National Football League started his storied career not with a bang but with a bust. Eight carries for zero yards as the Bears lost 35-7 to the Baltimore Colts. After the game he cried. “Zero yards, but it was like I’d just watched someone gain 150,” said teammate Mike Adamle that day. “He made a couple of moves in the backfield after he was stopped for losses, just to get back to the line of scrimmage, and I said, “This guy’s great.” And he got zero yards”
But while the numbers weren’t there [in his initial season] as he played for the hapless Bears, the skills and determination that would lead him to the Hall of Fame were clearly on display. Payton was his normal self, scrapping for every yard no matter how far in the backfield he was initially hit, no matter how many opposing linebackers were leaping on top of the pile, no matter how far behind in the game the Bears were. He fought for extra yards on late-game third-and-longs during blowout losses as if it were first-and-goal in the Super Bowl.
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On a team that consistently struggled, Walter was the guiding light. By year two… he began hitting his stride, rushing for 1,390 yards and thirteen touchdowns, finishing just behind O.J. Simpson for the league rushing title. In his third season, at age twenty-four, Payton was named the League’s Most Valuable Player, the youngest player ever to receive the honour. He earned it, scampering for 1,852 yards and fourteen touchdowns… including a 40-carry, 275-yard game against the Minnesota Vikings, still an NFL record for yards gained in a single game. He did it all that day despite suffering from the flu.
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His complete, all-out style of play made him a fan favourite not only in Chicago but throughout the league. In 1981, the struggling Bears played a powerful Dallas squad on Thanksgiving in Texas and lost 10-9. Payton was never better, running like a man possessed, determined to win one on national television despite playing for a team lacking talent. He finished with 179 yards on thirty-eight carries, and as he left the field, head down in defeat, he received a rousing standing ovation from Cowboys fans awed by his effort.
It became a weekly occurrence, Walter receiving huge ovations from opposing fans who appreciated his abilities and style. He became one of the league’s most popular players despite toiling for a losing team. The ultimate sign of respect came in Green Bay – home to the Bears’ ancient and despised rivals – where, as his career wore on, he began receiving standing ovations from the Lambeau faithful during the pregame introductions. It was the first time a Bear has ever been cheered in Green Bay. And the last.
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On his first trip away as a Bear, he sat in the first window seat on the left side of the plane in the coach [economy] section. At the time, the veteran players, particularly the stars, took the first-class seats and the rest of the team sat in coach. Walter sat in that same seat for every flight for his entire career. Long after he could have moved to first class and stretched out, he stuck with the rank and file of the team and flew coach class.
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Mike Singletary: “Walter never gave us a lot of speeches about what it took to be a professional. He never took rookies aside and discussed it with them. He led by example. It is the best way to teach people. Little things are always caught by people. Even my own kids catch things. That’s something I have to remember myself, to lead by example. It’s a lot easier to talk, but man, I tell you what, walking that talk is very, very difficult. And Walter walked the walk every single day and the rest of us watched in awe.”
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Kim Tucker: “I remember a woman who volunteers quite a bit at the foundation, and she was telling me that when she was a teenager that the Boys and Girls Club had held an event at a real nice hotel, and it was in a really nice suite at the hotel. It was a fund-raiser, so everybody was there, they were all people that had money and were all dressed very nice. These two teenagers were there and they were kind of just alone, nobody came up to greet them or anything.
She’ll never forget that when the elevator opened and Walter Payton walked out of the elevator, he looked around the room, and spotted them, and everybody’s running over to greet him, and he’s smiling at everybody and waving and telling them, putting his finger up, saying, “I’ll be right back,” ran right over to them and grabbed and hugged them, and said, “It’s great that you’re here, I’m so excited to be able to come and be part of this.” She said that when Walter came over, then everybody else wanted to come and meet them too. It was then okay to go up and hug these kids.”
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Mike Lanigan: I called him on his mobile and acted like I was not aware of what he was going to tell me.
I said “Walter, how are you doing?”
He said, “Well, Mikey, I got some good news and I got bad news. Which one do you want to hear first?”
I said, “What do you mean, Walter?”
He says, “What do you want to hear first?”
“Tell me the bad news.”
He says, “Mikey, I’m not going to be around very much longer.”
I say, “Oh, don’t tell me that, Walter…. What’s the good news?”
“I’m alive today.”
Think about that. That was his attitude from then on.
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Mike Singletary: Walter taught me to smile and he taught me to be courageous. And the other thing he taught me was to be a professional and how to handle myself. There were some games that we played, there were times that he played against some great athletes. I don’t care who they were, sometimes he would get the crap knocked out of him, bounce right back up. Bounce right back up. Wouldn’t say a word, he would turn and give the ball back to the referee, straighten up his helmet, and go back to the huddle. You knew at that moment he was saying, I’m coming back. Get ready, I’m coming back, and I’m coming with all I got. To me, that’s what he exemplified. When I looked at him, no matter what I felt like before a game – when I saw him run with such courage and authority – I don’t care who you were, he was going to dish it. He was gonna hand it out, he was gonna do the punishing, he was going to set the tempo.
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Walter Payton: That’s the way everyone should really want to be remembered, that whatever they did, they did it as best they possibly could. That’s all anyone should want in our life. It’s not being the best, it’s not winning this or not holding this record… but for people to say, while he was on the football field he gave all he had, and then when he was off the football field he was just that much of a person that you could relate to, that you could talk to, that he had feelings. That’s what you want to be remembered as. Because football is a business. Walter Payton is a human being. If all I’m remembered for is a bunch of yards and a lot of touchdowns, I’ve failed. That was just my work. I want to be remembered as a guy who raised two pretty special kids and who taught them to be great people. Please have them write that about me.
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Buy “Never Die Easy” by Walter Payton with Don Yeager (Random House publishing), wherever you can find it.
Contribute to the Walter and Connie Payton foundation
here.
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