Читать книгу The 50 Greatest Players in Chicago Bears History - Robert W. Cohen - Страница 10

Dick Butkus provided stiff competition to Walter Payton for the top spot on this list, with Butkus’s eight Pro Bowl selections, six All-Pro nominations, two NFL Defensive Player of the Year awards, and ability to dominate a game from his middle linebacker position making him an extremely worthy contender. However, Payton compiled a similarly impressive list of accomplishments during his time in the Windy City, earning nine trips to the Pro Bowl, eight All-Pro selections, and one league MVP trophy, while establishing himself as the most complete running back in NFL history. The choice was a difficult one, and Butkus would have made an excellent selection as well. But, in the end, the all-around brilliance of Walter Payton enabled him to edge out the legendary linebacker for the foremost position in these rankings.

Called “the very best football player I’ve ever seen, period, at any position” by former Bears head coach Mike Ditka, Walter Payton did everything one could possibly expect from a great running back, ending his career with NFL records for most yards rushing, touchdowns scored, yards from scrimmage, all-purpose yards, and receptions by a non-receiver. Truly excelling in every aspect of the game, Payton even threw eight touchdown passes and did an outstanding job of blocking for his teammates, with his magnificent all-around play helping the Bears win four division titles, one NFC championship, and one Super Bowl. In addition to rushing for more than 1,000 yards 10 times and gaining more than 1,500 yards on the ground on four separate occasions, Payton amassed more than 1,500 yards from scrimmage 10 times, reaching the 2,000-yard plateau in that category four different times. The holder of numerous Bears records, Payton continues to rank among the NFL’s all-time leaders in six different offensive categories more than three decades after he played his last game, with his long list of accomplishments earning him spots on the NFL’s 75th Anniversary Team and the NFL 100 All-Time Team, a top-10 ranking from both the Sporting News and the NFL Network on their respective lists of the 100 Greatest Players in NFL History, and a place in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Walter Payton retired as the NFL’s all-time leading rusher.

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Born in Columbia, Mississippi, on July 25, 1954, Walter Jerry Payton displayed a strong affinity for music while growing up in the segregated South, playing and singing in jazz-rock combos after school as a teenager. Although Payton continued to express his love for music while attending Columbia High School, playing drums in the school band, he began to exhibit his tremendous athleticism as well by participating in track as a long jumper, while also starring in baseball, basketball, and football, garnering All-State honors for his performance on the gridiron at running back. After running 65 yards for a touchdown the very first time he carried the ball as a junior, Payton ended up scoring at least once in every game he played over the course of the next two seasons, establishing himself in the process as one of Mississippi’s top running back prospects. However, with Southeastern Conference colleges accepting few black players at the time, Payton ultimately elected to follow in the footsteps of his older brother, Eddie, and enroll at historically black Jackson State University.

Continuing to make a name for himself in college, Payton rushed for more than 3,500 yards, averaged 6.1 yards per carry, and scored 65 touch-downs and 464 points for the Tigers, with his outstanding play earning him Black College Player of the Year honors twice and All-America recognition once. Turning in his finest individual performance during his sophomore year, Payton scored seven touchdowns and tallied a total of 46 points during a 72–0 win over Lane College. While at Jackson State, Payton also acquired the nickname “Sweetness” for his affable personality and graceful athleticism.

Selected by the Bears with the fourth overall pick of the 1975 NFL Draft, Payton posted relatively modest numbers his first year in the league, rushing for 679 yards, amassing 892 yards from scrimmage, accumulating 1,336 all-purpose yards, and scoring seven touchdowns for a Chicago team that finished just 4-10. Emerging as the NFL’s premier running back the following season, Payton began an extraordinary 11-year run during which he posted the following numbers, with only the strike-shortened 1982 campaign being excluded from this graphic:

YEAR	RUSH YD	REC YD	YD FROM SCRIMMAGE	TD
1976	1,390	149	1,539	13
1977	1,852*	269	2,121	16
1978	1,395	480	1,875	11
1979	1,610	313	1,923	16
1980	1,460	367	1,827	7
1981	1,222	379	1,601	8
1983	1,421	607	2,028	8
1984	1,684	368	2,052	11
1985	1,551	483	2,034	11
1986	1,333	382	1,715	11

* Please note that any numbers printed in bold throughout this book indicate that the player led the NFL in that statistical category that year.

Despite playing behind an inferior offensive line the first few seasons, Payton managed to finish either first or second in the NFL in rushing six times, placing in the league’s top five in three of the other four years. He also ranked among the league leaders in yards from scrimmage nine times, topping the circuit in that category twice. Payton’s amazing performance in 1977, which saw him set single-season franchise records for most yards rushing, yards from scrimmage, and rushing touchdowns (14), earned him NFL Offensive Player of the Year and league MVP honors. He also earned nine trips to the Pro Bowl, eight All-Pro selections, and nine All-NFC nominations during that time. More importantly, the Bears gradually established themselves as perennial contenders, making five playoff appearances, capturing three division titles, and winning one Super Bowl over the course of those 11 seasons.

Employing an extremely aggressive style of running even though he lacked great size, the 5'10½", 204-pound Payton had a way of exploding into defenders, typically doling out as much punishment as he received. Rarely choosing to run out of bounds, Payton preferred to run over potential tacklers, reinventing the use of the stiff-arm, which had gone out of favor among running backs during the 1970s. Recalling one of his encounters with Payton, former Dallas Cowboys cornerback Everson Walls said, “I caught his stiff-arm once, under my chin. It bent my head back, and, where your head goes, your body goes.”

Refusing to apologize for the way he punished defenders, Payton stated, “What about the pain they’ve dealt out to me? Pain is expected in this game.”

Commenting on Payton’s aggressive running style, former NFL head coach Jerry Glanville suggested, “He was a linebacker carrying the football.”

Meanwhile, Jim Brown expressed his admiration for Payton’s confrontational mindset by saying, “We were warriors, and he was a great warrior. If a guy runs out of bounds because a cornerback is coming up to hit him, that’s not my kind of guy. Walter was definitely one of them because he was a powerful man. . . . Give me the heart of Walter Payton. There’s never been a greater heart.”

Blessed with tremendous physical strength, Payton had the ability to bench-press 390 pounds and do leg-press series with more than 700 pounds. In discussing Payton’s granite-like physique, former Bears backfield coach Fred O’Connor once said, “The first time I saw Walter Payton in the locker room, I thought God must have taken a chisel and said, ‘I’m going to make me a halfback.’” An extraordinary all-around athlete, Payton also could throw a football 60 yards, punt it 70 yards, kick a field goal of 45 yards, and walk across a football field on his hands.

Known for his grueling offseason training regimen, Payton worked himself into top shape by running up a steep hill near his Illinois home about 20 times a day for several months before the start of each NFL season. Convincing teammates or local college players to join him on his treks from time to time, the mischievous Payton admitted, “I enjoy seeing them try it once or twice and then vomit.”

Payton’s strength, conditioning, and tenacity also helped make him one of the league’s finest blocking backs, with Los Angeles Rams Hall of Fame defensive end Jack Youngblood stating, “I remember a block he threw on me once, and I thought he opened a hole in my sternum, he hit me so hard. I said, ‘Walter, what are you doing?’ He said, ‘You were in the way.’”

Although Payton lacked great breakaway speed, defenders rarely caught him from behind, due, in part, to his signature “stutter step,” which he often employed to distract his pursuers during long runs. Feeling that this high-stepping maneuver caused his opponents to commit to an angle of pursuit based on what they believed he would do next, Payton made any necessary adjustments, allowing him to gain an advantage over players who possessed more straight-ahead speed.

A selfless team leader who preferred not to draw attention to himself, Payton chose not to take part in elaborate touchdown celebrations, instead handing the ball to an official or one of his offensive linemen because, he said, “They’re the ones who do all the work.”

The totality of Payton’s game, coupled with his unselfish mindset, earned him the respect and admiration of everyone he competed with and against, with former Raiders linebacker Matt Millen saying, “You felt honored to tackle him.”

Dick Butkus, who retired two seasons before Payton arrived in Chicago, called him “a perfect example of what a true back was supposed to be.”

Longtime Dallas Cowboys head coach Tom Landry said, “Walter has two qualities that you don’t have in one running back. He has great speed, but, not only that, he has great strength. You gotta’ plug the hole up twice.”

Former St. Louis Cardinals halfback Johnny Roland suggested, “When God created a running back, he created Walter Payton.”

Meanwhile, Jim Finks, the late general manager of the Bears, once described Payton as “a complete football player, better than Jim Brown, better than O. J. Simpson.”

After surpassing Brown as the NFL’s all-time leading rusher in 1984, Payton helped lead the Bears to the league championship the following year by gaining 1,551 yards on the ground, amassing 2,034 yards from scrimmage, and scoring 11 touchdowns, with his contributions to the success of the team gaining him recognition as the NFL Player of the Year. Payton subsequently rushed for another 1,333 yards in 1986, before assuming a somewhat diminished role in 1987, when he rushed for only 533 yards and scored just five touchdowns in Chicago’s 12 non-strike games. Choosing to announce his retirement following the conclusion of the campaign, Payton ended his career with 16,726 yards rushing, 492 receptions, 4,538 receiving yards, 21,264 yards from scrimmage, 21,803 all-purpose yards, and 125 touchdowns, with his 16,726 yards gained on the ground currently representing the second-highest total in NFL history. Extremely durable, Payton missed just one non-strike game his entire career, appearing in 190 out of a possible 191 contests, 184 of which he started.

When asked years later how he felt about having his long-standing rushing record broken by Payton, Jim Brown said, “Well, there are some individuals who, if they broke a record, and they did it the wrong way, they wouldn’t hear from me. But the way that he was, his attitude, his ability, I have all the admiration in the world for him.”

After retiring as an active player, Payton became involved in an unsuccessful attempt to bring an NFL team to the city of St. Louis that would have made him the first minority owner in league history. Having failed in that venture, Payton dabbled in the race car industry, acquiring part ownership of Dale Coyne Racing. He also opened a restaurant in Aurora, Illinois, that he called Walter Payton’s Roadhouse.

Sadly, Payton found himself unable to enjoy his retirement for very long, disclosing to the public during an emotional news conference held in Chicago on February 2, 1999, that he had been diagnosed with primary sclerosing cholangitis, a rare condition in which the bile ducts become blocked. Although Payton subsequently received chemotherapy and radiation treatment to help prevent the disease from spreading, it soon became apparent that the cancer had progressed to a point that it had become terminal. Payton spent the next few months trying to raise awareness as to the importance of organ donation, before making his last public appearance at Wrigley Field in April 1999, when he threw out the first pitch at a Cubs game. Payton finally succumbed to his illness on November 1, 1999, passing away at only 45 years of age, after spending the final weeks of his life working with author Don Yaeger to create his posthumously published autobiography entitled Never Die Easy. One of the passages from that work reads: “If you ask me how I want to be remembered, it is as a winner. You know what a winner is? A winner is somebody who has given his best effort, who has tried the hardest they possibly can, who has utilized every ounce of energy and strength within them to accomplish something. It doesn’t mean that they accomplished it or failed, it means that they’ve given it their best. That’s a winner.”

Expressing his love and admiration for his former teammate during the eulogy he delivered at a memorial service the Bears subsequently held for Payton at Soldier Field, an emotional Dan Hampton said, “I’ve got a little girl, she’s four years old. Ten years from now, when she asks about the Chicago Bears, I’ll tell her about a championship, and I’ll tell her about great teams and great teammates and great coaches, and how great it was to be a part of it. But the first thing I’ll tell her about is Walter Payton.”