{"id":134646,"date":"2020-09-29T11:42:42","date_gmt":"2020-09-29T19:42:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=134646"},"modified":"2020-09-30T11:50:39","modified_gmt":"2020-09-30T19:50:39","slug":"sweetness-the-enigmatic-life-of-walter-payton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=134646","title":{"rendered":"Sweetness: The Enigmatic Life of Walter Payton"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jeff Pearlman writes in this 2012 book<\/a>:<\/p>\n

* In the year 1975, a significant racial divide still existed in professional sports. White teammates hung with white teammates and black teammates hung with black teammates. There was a lingering mistrust and a pronounced lack of understanding. Locker room card games were split among racial lines. The tension over music was palpable\u2014country and rock vs. R&B. To many of the black Bears, their white teammates seemed stiff and judgmental. How could they possibly trust the Southerners from schools like Alabama and Auburn and Ole Miss\u2014the ones who seemed perpetually uncomfortable in their presence?<\/p>\n

A good number of the white Bears, meanwhile, didn\u2019t like what they perceived to be the never-ending crowing and strutting of the blacks. They found the players to be lazy, selfish, and heartless. All skill, no drive. \u201cWhen I got there we had a bunch of niggers,\u201d said Rives, a white linebacker from 1973 to 1978. \u201cGreat ability, but no work ethic. They were selfish twits, and they wanted to blame everyone but themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just as he had done at Columbia High School five years earlier, Payton somehow bridged the gap.<\/p>\n

* Reporters hated dealing with him. None stated any dislike for Payton. They simply could not pin the man down.<\/p>\n

* Payton was prone to making inappropriate comments about teammates\u2019 sexuality that some found funny and others found disturbing.
\nThere were whispers around Chicago that he, himself, was gay\u2014understandable scuttlebutt considering his off-putting behavior. \u201cHis nickname was Sweetness,\u201d said Arland Thompson, the team\u2019s fourth-round draft pick in 1980. \u201cHe pinched my ass so often I thought he was sweet on me.\u201d
\n\u201cWe were taking handoffs in a drill,\u201d said Dennis Runck, a free agent running back in 1982. \u201cHe slaps me on the ass and says, \u2018So, I hear you\u2019re gay.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cWere Walter alive today, he\u2019d almost certainly have some sexual harassment suits thrown his way,\u201d said Duke Fergerson, a free agent wide receiver in camp with the team in 1982. \u201cIt\u2019s one thing to be playful and juvenile about discovering your sexuality. But Walter would almost be sexually intimidating to these rookies. He\u2019d make passes at guys. He may have been kidding, but coming from someone of that status, it was very intimidating. It got to the point where I didn\u2019t want to dress around him. It was too uncomfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n

* \u201cHe had a big hole inside of him. He did it dishonorably. He used women\u2014and especially younger women\u2014for something he needed. And I\u2019m not saying something merely physical. There was an emptiness in him. He sought out women to fill that hole. It was devilish.\u201d<\/p>\n

* Payton loved women. But\u2014and this includes Connie\u2014they were disposable. Athletes often say that excelling at the highest level of sport takes an uncommon level of focus. If one finds a woman willing to accept certain conditions (as was the case with Connie), a relationship can work. It\u2019ll be one-sided and emotionally unfulfilling. But it will, in a strictly mechanical sense, work.<\/p>\n

* When Holmes negotiated a new contract with the Bears in 1981, one of the stipulations was that, on the road, Payton be granted his own suite. The reason was simple: He wanted a place to bring back his conquests. Although Payton continued to avoid regularly socializing with teammates, that didn\u2019t mean he failed to go out. From San Diego to Seattle, Detroit to Denver, Boston to Buffalo, Payton could often be found at the hot dance clubs, working the moves perfected on 24 Karat Black Gold a decade earlier. Before long, Payton\u2019s personal black book featured a bevy of women in every city. Wherever the Chicago Bears traveled, Payton had females waiting for the signal to discreetly knock on his door at the Hyatt or Hilton or Marriott.
\nAs Connie remained in Illinois caring for Jarrett, her husband was on the road, living the life. Those who knew him best say one of Payton\u2019s great gifts\/ills was the ability to compartmentalize. When he was home in Arlington Heights, he could be the prototypical family man. <\/p>\n

* When the television camera lights were on and the reporter notepads were out, Payton did his best to only talk team-team-team. All he wanted was for the Bears to win. If he ran for zero yards but the other fellas did well, he was happy. Whether he surpassed Brown or not was insignificant. Blah, blah, blah. It was utter nonsense…<\/p>\n

* In the fifth game of the \u201983 season, the Bears were leading Denver by seventeen points with less than two minutes remaining\u2014yet there was Payton, struggling with a nagging knee injury (he would have arthroscopic surgery on both knees after the season), still slamming into the line. When a reader wrote the Tribune a letter that called Payton\u2019s usage \u201cidiotic,\u201d Don Pierson, the Bears beat writer, responded with a piece titled \u201cJim Brown the Reason Payton Ran.\u201d \u201cHe is in pursuit of Jim Brown\u2019s all-time rushing record,\u201d Pierson explained\u2014as if that were enough…<\/p>\n

Nobody grasped Payton better than the Tribune\u2019s Pierson, one of the sport\u2019s great beat writers\/B.S. detectors. In the aftermath of the Bears\u2019 21\u201314 loss to the Los Angeles Rams on November 6, Payton\u2014 who cleared eleven thousand career yards that day\u2014told the scribe that, \u201cI\u2019d rather turn back the eleven thousand for a win today.\u201d Pierson ran the quote, but only with the addendum, \u201cPayton remarked typically but not convincingly\u201d (emphasis added).<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite what Walter said, it was clearly obvious that surpassing Brown meant everything to him,\u201d said Pierson. \u201cHe liked to make no big deal of it, but it was enormous. \u201cHe wanted that record.\u201d<\/p>\n

* Brown, on the other hand, was someone Payton wanted little to do with. While he spoke glowingly of the Hall of Famer in public, Payton failed to understand the bitterness that seemed to accompany Brown\u2019s words. He was the one, after all, who chose to retire in the prime of his career, at age twenty-nine; the one who walked away to become a movie star…<\/p>\n

Brown had mostly kind words for Payton, referring to him as a \u201cgladiator.\u201d But Payton, to his credit, wasn\u2019t swayed. He found Brown to be an arrogant, dismissive, rude old man crying for a breadcrumb of attention. Were he to eventually own the mark, Payton promised himself he would never behave as Brown had.<\/p>\n

* Unlike Payton, who rarely voted and never talked politics,16 Brown dove headfirst into social causes.<\/p>\n

* The 49ers were talented and experienced and widely believed to be chemically enhanced. \u201cThey beat the shit out of us,\u201d said Fred Caito, the Bears trainer. \u201cAnd our offensive and defensive linemen said, \u2018These guys are \u2019roided up, and they\u2019re destroying us in the trenches. We can\u2019t compete with that.\u2019 I assure you many of our linemen started using after that game.\u201d<\/p>\n

* The $265,000 contract disparity between McMahon and Payton made the running back\u2019s blood boil. So, for that matter, did the mounting dismissiveness he perceived to be coming from the press, the fans, and the Bears organization. \u201cThis is my eleventh year, and nobody takes me seriously,\u201d he moaned to Sports Illustrated… Entering the 1985 season Payton was, for the first time, not the team\u2019s sole focal point. There was McMahon, the hard-living, attentionseeking quarterback who talked smack and wore sunglasses indoors. There was Willie Gault, the speedy wide receiver who longed for a career in movies. There was Mike Singletary, the Butkus-esque middle linebacker, and his two high-flying cohorts, Wilber Marshall and Otis Wilson. And, of course, there was Ditka, the snarling head coach, and Buddy Ryan, the defensive coordinator who hated him. So loaded was the team that, shortly after reporting to training camp and soaking in all the talent, Butler called Cathy, his fianc\u00e9e, and told her their wedding had to be moved from January 25, 1985\u2014the day before the next Super Bowl. \u201cWe had so many weapons, and Walter wasn\u2019t the center of it anymore, even though he was so valuable,\u201d said Covert. \u201cAnd while I\u2019m sure he really enjoyed being part of all the winning, the other side of the coin was that it wasn\u2019t all about him. I think that was sometimes a little bit difficult for him. The other personalities came into play, and it wasn\u2019t that he was ever overshadowed, but he had competition.\u201d<\/p>\n

* What irked Payton most was the emergence of a rookie defensive lineman named William Perry. …When asked, Payton said all the right things about Perry. But inside, he hurt. The kid had been with Chicago for half a year, and he was already earning pitchman deals Payton could only dream of.<\/p>\n

* Blessed with the NFL\u2019s best offensive line, Payton no longer had to create his own holes and hope for random openings.<\/p>\n

* It was a strange time to be Walter Payton. His out-of-wedlock son, Nigel, and in-wedlock daughter, Brittney, were born months apart. His team was hot and his Q-rating on the wane. He was piling up Pro Bowl\u2013worthy numbers (he finished the season with 1,551 yards, the fourth-highest total of his career), yet wasn\u2019t the same back he once had been. He put on the happiest face possible, but came across to teammates as moodier and crankier than ever. \u201cWalter was the personality of the team,\u201d said Butler, the kicker. \u201cIf Walter was loud and rambunctious that day, the pace of practice took off. But if things weren\u2019t going well, Walter would wear it on his forehead.\u201d When he was the only story in town, it was easy to say, \u201cI don\u2019t want the attention.\u201d Now that the attention didn\u2019t exist, he wanted it.<\/p>\n

* \u201cAt his core, Walter was incredibly insecure,\u201d said Holmes. \u201cHe would do things to draw attention, but only if it looked like he wasn\u2019t trying to draw attention. He might go to a banquet and if they were bringing out steak he\u2019d say, \u2018I don\u2019t eat red meat.\u2019 And they\u2019d ask what they could bring him and he\u2019d ask for fish\u2014then complain it wasn\u2019t cooked right. An hour later, he\u2019d be sneaking to McDonald\u2019s for a Big Mac, begging me, \u2018Don\u2019t tell anybody! Don\u2019t tell!\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would go to Chicago Bulls games and he\u2019d know exactly where the cameras were. You\u2019d see him go up to the kids in the wheelchairs, and he\u2019d go up, shake their hands, knowing the camera was on. Does that mean he didn\u2019t care? No. But he was aware of how it would be perceived, and that mattered immensely to him. On more than one occasion, Walter went to the airport without a ticket or reservation or nothing. He\u2019d walk up to the American Airlines counter and say, \u2018I need a ticket to Las Vegas.\u2019 They\u2019d be oversold, but they\u2019d kick people off the plane and place him in first class. Walter loved that, even as he played humble.\u201d<\/p>\n

* In pileups, Chicago\u2019s defenders twisted Dickerson\u2019s ankles and clawed at his eyes. When referees were looking elsewhere, they made his knees prime targets. It was, by far, the most vicious beating he would take in what became an eleven-year Hall of Fame career.<\/p>\n

* Payton steadfastly pursued other women. It was around this time that he was diagnosed with genital herpes, a sexually transmitted disease that causes recurrent painful sores. Payton was initially shocked and dismayed by the diagnosis, but rarely\u2014if ever\u2014found it necessary to inform future sexual partners of the viral infection.<\/p>\n

* Devoutly Christian and unafraid to show it, Singletary watched with great disappointment as Payton regularly cheated on his wife. He obviously knew athletes did such things, but expected more from someone of Payton\u2019s character and esteem. \u201cMike finds out that despite Walter\u2019s stellar career and reputation, he\u2019s catting around on the road,\u201d said a friend of Payton. \u201cHe had a devoted wife, precious children, and yet he\u2019s being unfaithful.\u201d One afternoon during the 1985 season, while taking a team bus to the airport, Singletary slid into the vacant seat alongside Payton. \u201cMan, you\u2019ve got to clean up your act,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019ve got a beautiful family and you claim to be a Christian. You know better.\u201d
\nThis was the first time someone had confronted him on his womanizing, and Payton was shocked. He turned toward the window, away from Singletary, and pretended not to listen. In the reflection, Singletary saw tears streaming down Payton\u2019s face.
\nSingletary had no idea what his friend was thinking. Through the end of Payton\u2019s career, the two never spoke again.<\/p>\n

* Payton was a nonfactor. The man who overcame prejudice and smallschool bias and injury and shoddy offensive lines couldn\u2019t get the fumble out of his head. The mishap plagued him. Haunted him. He moped along the sideline, and though he was handed the ball twenty-two times, he ran for a meager sixty-one yards while failing to catch a single pass. Afterward, Chicago\u2019s players
\nand coaches rationalized his poor performance by insisting New England obsessed over him, and that Payton\u2019s mere presence allowed McMahon to throw for 256 yards and run for two touchdowns. \u201cThe Patriots,\u201d said Gault, \u201cwere dead-set on holding Walter down.\u201d<\/p>\n

* \u201cThose last two minutes of the game were agony for Walter,\u201d said Covert. \u201cYou could see it on his face\u2014 he just wanted out of there.\u201d When the final whistle sounded and the Chicago Bears were officially Super Bowl champions, Payton headed directly to the locker room. He entered, tore off his jersey, and slammed his shoulder pads to the floor.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you looked at Walter,\u201d said Ken Valdiserri, the team\u2019s director of media relations, \u201cyou would have thought we\u2019d lost.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the ten years I had played with him, Walter claimed it didn\u2019t matter how many yards he got, how many touchdowns he scored\u2014it was about winning,\u201d said Brian Baschnagel, the veteran receiver who, because of a seasonending knee injury, watched the game from above in the coaches\u2019 box. \u201cThat was the attitude I took, too. I didn\u2019t care how many passes I caught, as long as the Bears won. And I always felt Walter felt the exact same way. But when he reacted the way he did . . . it was the exact opposite of what he had claimed to be as an athlete.\u201d<\/p>\n

* Without a football career, without a racing career, without the potential ownership of an NFL franchise, Walter Payton often found himself suffocated by darkness. Oh, he wouldn\u2019t let on as such. He smiled and laughed and told jokes and pinched rear ends and tried his absolute best to come across as the life of the party. Inside, however, happiness eluded Payton in the same manner he had once eluded opposing linebackers.<\/p>\n

* \u201cI always wondered whether I did Walter a favor by helping him get so big,\u201d said Bud Holmes. \u201cIt\u2019s a fine line whether
\nhe would have been happier as a larger-than-life celebrity, or as a man back in Columbia, Mississippi, fathering ten or twelve illegitimate children, getting thrown in jail once a month, working some blue-collar job. If Elvis had it to do all over again, would he rather just drive a truck in Tupelo?\u201d<\/p>\n

* Payton was the clich\u00e9d celebrity\u2014surrounded by admirers, yet alone. \u201cHe called me many times at two, three in the morning, just wanting to talk,\u201d said Holmes. \u201cThere\u2019s a Norman Rockwell quote\u2014\u2018Pity the poor genius.\u2019 I pitied Walter.\u201d<\/p>\n

* Quirk and Tucker came to expect Payton\u2019s manic mood swings\u2014giddy one second, despondent the next. He kept a tub of painkillers inside a desk drawer and popped them regularly. He ate greasy fast foods and gorged on fettuccine carbonara (his favorite dish) and dumped ten sugar packs into each cup of coffee and dunked pork rinds into hot sauce. Though a fast metabolism prevented Payton from gaining excessive weight, they worried how it all impacted his psyche. \u201cHe ate junk,\u201d said Conley. \u201cFettuccine Alfredo with
\ncrumbled bacon. Chili dogs. Corn dogs. And fried pork chops, and I mean fried hard.\u201d Never an imbiber as a player, Payton now drank his fair share of beer. He behaved erratically and was prone to strange and confounding moments. Holmes vividly recalled visiting the office for a meeting. \u201cWalter came in and he was bouncing off the walls,\u201d he said. \u201cHe was totally incoherent, all hopped up on these painkillers. I remember he turned on his computer and he wanted to show some old porn crap. His eyes were all weird. I said, \u2018Walter, what the hell?\u2019 He drank a couple of beers and I couldn\u2019t believe it. Who was this person?\u201d<\/p>\n

* Once, during a particularly down period, he entered the house at 34 Mudhank with his gun drawn, telephoned a friend, and crying, uttered, \u201cI\u2019m going to end it now.\u201d
\n\u201cWalter would call me all the time, saying he was about to kill himself,\u201d said Holmes. \u201cHe was tired. He was angry. Nobody loved him. He wanted to be dead.\u201d The first time such a threat was made, Holmes dropped what he was doing and flew from Mississippi to Illinois to console his client. By the time he arrived, Payton\u2019s mood had swung positive. Holmes never again took his threats seriously.
\nDespite the urging of those around him, Payton refused to see a psychologist or social worker. What would that say about his strength and fortitude? He was supposed to be a hero. Heroes didn\u2019t do therapy.<\/p>\n

* Payton probably isn\u2019t the greatest pure running back in NFL history. Jim Brown was more skilled. Emmitt Smith gained more yards (he broke Payton\u2019s record in 2002). Earl Campbell was stronger, Gale Sayers was faster, Barry Sanders was more elusive. Throughout his career, Payton was routinely overshadowed by his peers in the same position. He never matched the splendor of O.J. Simpson or the grace of Eric Dickerson. Marcus Allen boasted a regalness Payton lacked. Billy Sims entered the league with greater hype.<\/p>\n

* Nigel Smythe, Walter\u2019s second son, had never looked especially hard into this part of his life. He understood that his biological father was one of the most famous sports figures in the United States. But he also knew the same man\u2014one adored by millions of people\u2014had made no effort to be a dad. From the day Nigel was born in 1985 until Walter\u2019s death in 1999, the two never lived more than thirty miles apart from one another. Despite that, Walter Payton\u2014the onetime Illinois Fatherhood Initiative Chicago Father of the Year\u2014wanted nothing to do with the boy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jeff Pearlman writes in this 2012 book: * In the year 1975, a significant racial divide still existed in professional sports. White teammates hung with white teammates and black teammates hung with black teammates. There was a lingering mistrust and … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[216],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-134646","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-football"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t