9
When asked about the Bears not hiring Walsh, Mike Ditka said: “What happens if Bill comes to Chicago? I’ll tell you this much—nobody would even know who I am, and I’d be tending bar in Dallas.”
10
An interesting side-note: To augment his income, Payton signed an agreement with the Playboy Club to speak at a luncheon on the Monday afternoons following home games.
11
One of the great tragedies of Payton’s life took place a couple of years later, when he accidentally locked Sweetness out of the house on a cold winter day. The dog froze to death. “Walter,” said Ron Atlas, his friend, “was crushed.”
12
Keeping with his oft-quirky ways, Payton never did hold the postseason press conference he had promised reporters.
13
He rushed for 161 yards and threw for seventy-seven yards against the Saints. “I never saw anything like Walter in that game,” said Al Harris, the Bears linebacker. “There was a play where he was running toward our bench, and Walter wound up his arm like a bolo punch, and this defensive back for New Orleans [Dave Waymer], he hit this dude . . . you know how in a movie a boxer will wind up his whole arm like a propeller. Walter wound up his arm and threw a forearm. I was sitting on the bench and they were two yards from the sideline, and [Waymer] came flying through the air and landed by my feet. Remarkable!”
14
Harper, his closest friend on the team, was finally cut; Halas, the man who drafted him, died at age eighty-eight.
15
“He invited me to come work out with him,” recalled Billy Sims, Detroit’s star halfback. “Oh, boy, did I make a mistake. He’s running these crazy hills with thirty-pound weight packs on his back, and I just want to avoid throwing up.”
16
Author’s note: When I asked Jarrett Payton, Walter’s son, whether his father had been a Democrat or a Republican, he shrugged. “Honestly,” he said, “I don’t know.”
17
Later in his life Payton also tested positive for Epstein-Barr virus, but never appeared to suffer from any symptoms.
18
Not everyone with New England was so confident. Said Les Steckel, the Patriots’ quarterbacks and receivers coach: “I thought about calling the commissioner’s office and asking if we could play with twelve guys of ours on the field. I’m not sure whether we would have won—but I definitely think we’d have had a shot with thirteen.”
19
Technically, some of the fault lies with McMahon. The handoff was designed to head toward the weak side of the defense, but the quarterback called the wrong formation. “Walter was furious with McMahon about that,” said Bud Holmes. “He never said it to his face, but he blamed the fumble on him.”
20
Yes, that Sean Payton—the coach of the New Orleans Saints.
21
Billy Kohler is now twenty-four and living in Orlando, where he works construction.
22
During his time at Mayo, it was also determined that Payton was a carrier of Hepatitis C, a viral disease that leads to swelling of the liver. However, according to Dr. J. Steve Bynon, head of the liver transplant center at the University of Alabama-Birmingham, Hepatitis C and primary sclerosing cholangitis are unrelated. “Hepatitis C can be very serious,” Bynon said. “But it has nothing to do with PSC. They are separate entities.” During his stint as a patient at Mayo, Payton acknowledged to confidants that he had known of the Hepatitis C for more than a decade, and that he probably contracted it as a result of knee surgery following the 1983 season. The disease, however, is often difficult to detect, and for years Payton refused to tell anyone—even loved ones—that he was a carrier.
23
I was the Sports Illustrated writer. I’ve never forgotten sitting across from Payton that day.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
PART ONE - COLUMBIA
CHAPTER 1 - BUBBA
CHAPTER 2 - LEARNING THE GAME
CHAPTER 3 - BLACK AND WHITE
CHAPTER 4 - THE EMERGENCE
CHAPTER 5 - RECRUITMENT
PART TWO - JACKSON
CHAPTER 6 - JACKSON STATE
CHAPTER 7 - SOUL
CHAPTER 8 - CONNIE
CHAPTER 9 - HEISMAN HOPES
PART THREE - CHICAGO
CHAPTER 10 - GOING PRO
CHAPTER 11 - BIRTH OF SWEETNESS
CHAPTER 12 - ZERO YARDS
CHAPTER 13 - THE WAKE-UP CALL
CHAPTER 14 - THE STRANGEST RUN
CHAPTER 15 - DARKNESS
CHAPTER 16 - THE UNBEARABLE BEARS
CHAPTER 17 - A ROSE IN A DANDELION GARDEN
CHAPTER 18 - POWER
CHAPTER 19 - SHUFFLE
CHAPTER 20 - SUPER LETDOWN
CHAPTER 21 - AFTERMATH
PART FOUR - RETIREMENT
CHAPTER 22 - NOW WHAT?
CHAPTER 23 - A BOTTOMLESS VOID
CHAPTER 24 - DEPRESSION
PART FIVE - FINAL
CHAPTER 25 - SICK
CHAPTER 26 - THE END
CHAPTER 27 - LEGACY
CHAPTER 28 - AFTERWORD
Acknowledgements
NOTES
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX
Sweetness Page 62