Sweetness: The Enigmatic Life of Walter Payton

Jeff Pearlman has written a real biography of Walter Payton. This is not some glam filled, highlight reel of the best of Walter Payton. It's a real biography that tells about the real bitter sweet life of Walter Payton.Payton grew up poor in a racially segregated Colombia, Mississippi. While Payton never experienced firsthand violence growing up, it was a segregated community with all the racial prejudice against blacks that implies. African Americans were treated as inferior and lived in a specific section of town. His father was a hard worker and decent man but an alcoholic who didn't seem to have a great deal of influence in Payton's life. But his mother was a hard worker who was the family disciplinarian and real glue that held them together. This segregated community and overt racism of his childhood is probably what gave Payton a chip on his shoulder for the rest of his life, out to prove that he was inferior to nobody.As schools were integrated and Payton went on to play high school football, he of course became the darling of the town, as great athletes often are, and was one of the most sought after football prospects. He ended up, through some shenanigans by the coach, heading to Jackson State in Mississippi near his hometown for his college football career.There he had a career that landed him as the fourth overall pick in the 1975 National Football League draft by the Chicago Bears, where he had a Hall of Fame career, setting the then NFL record for rushing yards (16,726 yards). He won a Super Bowl ring when the Chicago Bears won Super XX over the New England Patriots.This isn't a biography, however, only about Payton's nearly unmatched professional football career. It's about the man who lived it. And there we find the darker side of Walter Payton.Walter lived a happy but sheltered childhood and his sheltered life at Jackson State probably did not prepare him to live in the real world, especially the one outside of football. There he met his future wife Connie who eventually moved to Chicago with him.What was Payton's real personality like? Fun loving; happy go lucky, and a prankster. Kind hearted to strangers, children, and those who were in need. He was quite a compassionate human being. But he was also childish, jealous, petulant, and someone who always wanted to have things his way.What do we find out about Walter Payton in this biography?First, while he was great teammate and superb player he was also a bit petulant when things didn't go his way. He wanted the ball and to be the superstar, but also had a quiet way of going about it. In one of the more telling moments, he hid in a broom closet after the Bears won Super Bowl XX because he didn't score a touchdown. What should have been one of the happiest moments in his life turned out to be one of the most bittersweet as he cried in anger and refused to come out to talk to the press after the Super Bowl win, without some cajoling. Coach Mike Ditka says it is one of his biggest regrets that he didn't make sure Walter got the ball for a score in the blowout win.Second, during his playing career Payton abused the painkiller Darvon, often popping them like candy. He continued to abuse painkillers after his playing career, possibly as self-medication for depression. Darvon is very hard on the liver and while Pearlman does not draw a direct line to his drug abuse and the live disease that ultimately killed him, he certainly implies it.Third, Walter Payton struggled badly with loneliness and being out of the spotlight once his playing days were over. He reportedly contemplated suicide, maybe on more than one occasion, and suffered from depression.Fourth, Payton was a philanderer and liked women. He clearly had fell out of love with his wife Connie and didn't really live with her for most of his post-football life. In fact, he fathered a child with another woman and had another long-term relationship with a flight attendant.This lead to another bittersweet moment in Walter Payton's life. Against his wishes his girlfriend showed up at his Hall of Fame induction ceremony, unbeknownst to his estranged wife Connie. In public, Payton, and probably more so Connie, put on the façade of the happy couple. Payton was angry that his girlfriend showed up and she was literally just a few rows back from his wife and children during his induction speech.So once again, what should have been one of the happiest moments in Walter Payton's life instead turned into a nerve wracking, bittersweet experience.A fifth aspect of Walter Payton that is apparent, even if Pearlman doesn't say this directly, is he was probably a manic depressive. If the behaviors exhibited in the biography are accurate, one moment he is manic and happy go lucky, being out public, and trying to make a living on his up and down again business interests. And at other times he is darkly depressed, not wanting to be out in public, and even contemplating suicide.Pearlman also points out all of Walter Payton's good traits. Even though he trusted very few people, he cared about people and went out of his way to make people around him feel good and he was very charitable to those in need. He was also a great teammate who led by example on the field and was real locker room leader, even when the Bears had dreadfully inadequate talent around him. The persona that surrounded Payton as a caring, hardworking, class act was a real part of Walter Payton too.Jeff Pearlman has been unfairly castigated by many of Walter Payton friends, family, and fans for this biography because he dares tell the real story of Walter Payton. Mike Ditka said he wanted to spit on him and has no respect for him. Others claim the biography is not truthful and essentially fiction. And Connie Payton and his children also claim the biography is mostly untrue.I think the veracity of this book is hard to question for one very simple reason. Nearly all of Pearlman's sources are identified by name. Only two sources are not - his longtime girlfriend who showed up at his Hall of Fame induction and the woman with whom he has a child (which he never acknowledged). Otherwise, former agents, players, long-time personal assistant, family members, coaches, and other acquaintances who Pearlman interviewed are all there, speaking through the author. I have yet to see any of these people come out and refute what they said to Pearlman. I know that the truth might be painful for many, but Pearlman has done a service to the memory of Walter Payton.

I read this book after I heard author Jeff Pearlman say in a radio interview that Mike Ditka had threatened to "spit on him" for writing this biography of Walter Payton's low points in life as well as his triumphs. Pearlman said that he believed that Walter Payton deserved a true biography, not a sugar-coated one. After reading the book I think Pearlman is right. Payton's failings were few and his triumphs were many. It honors him to tell his complete life's story.I first heard of Payton when I moved to Chicago during the early 1980s and became a Bears fan during that magic season in 1985 when the Bears went 15-1 and won the Super Bowl. That team was beloved for its rambunctious personality as much as for its record. Nobody who was in Chicago that season can forget Jim McMahon throwing come-from-behind game winning passes, the backup quarterbacks winning the playoff games when McMahon was hurt, Mike Ditka ranting on the sidelines, Defensive Coach Buddy Ryan running the defense, "Refrigerator" Perry holding the line on defense and then carrying the ball on offense, or Mike Singletary's eyes bugging out in concentration as a defensive back.Nobody had more of the fans' affection than Walter Payton. I heard time and again, "The Bears have finally built a team around Walter Payton." Payton had labored patiently during the Bear's barren years when he WAS the team and the game plan was "Walter Payton left, Walter Payton Right, Walter Payton up the middle."Fans loved Payton because he was a smallish running back who ran through and past much bigger defensive lineman with strength and incredible agility. Payton's graciousness earned him his nickname "Sweetness." When he passed away I heard a fan say, "He was a great ball player. And he was a good man." Payton was such an inspiration that this simple eulogy sounded profoundly eloquent.This book tells the high points of Payton's life. Some of them are:* Payton lived through the transition when African Americans went from being scorned and segregated to being recognized as true American citizens. Like most African-Americans Payton looked forward to better days in the future and did not dwell on the wrongs inflicted on his people in the past.* Payton's awesome physicality. He looked smallish on TV but "dead-lifted 625 pounds without working up a sweat." He famously conditioned by running every day up those lakeshore dunes behind his house.* His awesome work ethic. I knew that NFL players played through pain, but not the severe pain that Payton played through. His refusal to run for the sidelines and his insistence on running through tacklers put hard hits on him. He was in physical agony for days after each game. In spite of that he missed only one game in thirteen years.* Payton's uproarious humor: Once, while flying to an event, Payton sat next to a woman in first class who turned toward him and said, "Do I know you from somewhere?" Payton leaned close and said, "Actually, I'm one of the world's most famous male strippers. You've probably seen me perform." Payton rose, removed his jacket, and pretended to begin his routine. The woman was mortified until a boy approached and said, "Mr. Payton, can I have your autograph?" She laughed uproariously. "Oh my God," the woman said, cackling. "That's the best trick anyone has ever played on me."It is also an honest retelling of Payton's low points:* Payton had a sincere Christian spirit that was corrupted by the temptations of superstardom. He was named Chicago's Father of the Year a couple of months after fathering out of wedlock a child that he would never meet. According to the author Payton had a "dreadful marriage" (seems he had married young to a woman he shared little with) but for the sake of his family maintained the marriage till he passed away. Was this not the right thing to do, sticking by one's family through trying circumstances?* When Payton retired from the NFL he encountered the phenomenon encountered by most every other retiree in the history of mankind: an organized life was replaced with days of boredom and irrelevance. "Once you've played in nine Pro Bowls, where's the thrill in being an attendee? Once you're honored 8,000 times, what's 8,001? Once you've had fifty thousand fans chanting your name . . . well, how does a person move beyond such a thing?"* Payton's days in retirement were bittersweet. He looked back on a historic career. But his life had a void that was not filled by post-career family ties and other interests. Liver cancer killed him at age 45 before he had a change to enter the phase of late-life maturity when people come to self-realization by reconciling their life's highs and lows.It's fair to say that Payton lived a nearly perfect life on the field, but a less than perfect life off the field. I think Jeff Pearlman wrote the book the way Walter Payton would have wanted it written, warts and all. Payton was man enough to recognize his faults and not to mince words about them. The triumphs in his life will always shine over the failings. Were Walter still with us (and he would be only 57 years old now) he would say, "Well done. You told it like it was."Mike Ditka (who the author admires in the book) doesn't need to defend Payton's reputation by spitting on the author. Ditka can save his saliva for some other occasion.

I loved reading the book Sweetness ,because it showed the character of Walter Payton , the good and the bad , no one is exempt from flaws

A flawed man but with undeniable talent. This author allowed me to appreciate more about Sweetness than just purely his records.

The truth,the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Well, as close as we will probably ever get. It turns out Walter wasn't perfect but still a true great.

Great read, warts and all

watching this man when I was 14 turned me into a LOYALBEARSFAN and a football fan period.This man was so AWESOME that BARRY SANDERS RETIRED out of RESPECT for "SWEETNES" and we all know how completely amazing BARRY was.NOW that says alot.This book is a MUST-READ for any football fan,it clearly shows the difference between athletes of OLD SCHOOL and the softness that todays game has become!

gave poor review (BEFORE) and am removing that to read 5Star rating as Dean was very prompt on tracking down problem (tho with busy Xmas RUSH) thx you DEAN @BerkshireBooks _ would recommend and use again thXs DOUG.