Sweetness Remembered

Yesterday marked the tenth anniversary of Walter Payton's death. I remember exactly where I was when I heard the news: the cafeteria in my fraternity. I had just returned from a class and was in line to get some lunch when a guy two years younger than me came up to me and told me "I'm sorry." He new I was a huge Bears fan (and just as big a Walter Payton fan). I said, "About what?" Then he told me Walter Payton died. Then I knocked him out.

I moved to Chicago in the fall of 1985, and pretty quickly fell in love with the Bears. Like many kids growing up in Chicago in the '80s, Walter Payton was my hero. Whether he knew it or not, Payton was a role model for a generation of Chicagoans. Here was a guy who not only possessed all of the talent in the world, but he busted his ass on every play (whether he was running the ball, blocking, or running a route), he was tough as nails, and he was a classy, humble, genuinely nice man to boot.

In my opinion, Payton was hands down the greatest football player of all-time. He had the speed and grace of a gazelle, but he would run you over like a rhino. He never took the easy way out by running out of bounds. Instead, he would lower his shoulder and knock a defender over to try to get another couple yards. He invented and perfected leaping over the pile for a touchdown. And when he scored a touchdown, he didn't dance or spike the ball; he handed the ball back to the ref and headed to the sidelines. In an era not as enamored with passing the ball as today's NFL, he caught nearly 500 passes for over 4,500 yards, in addition to his 16,726 rushing yards. And he was the Bears' back-up kicker and third-string QB. When he retired, he was the NFL's all-time leader in rushing yards, yards from scrimmage, rushing touchdowns, total touchdowns, and several other categories. I still get chills every time I see the clip of him breaking Jim Brown's all-time rushing record (even if I didn't see it live).

I urge you all to check out the Remembering Walter Payton page on the Bears website (thanks to Bohmann for the link). There are some great highlight videos, as well as a tearjerking tribute video. I'm sure I speak for every Bears fan when I say that Walter Payton is sorely missed.