“Walter was the best football player to ever play the game of football!” -Coach Mike Ditka
And, having had the pleasure of meeting him a number of times throughout the years around town near until his tragic death a decade ago, he was all that, and much much more to most real Chicagoans, is obviously still dearly missed as today there was a great tribute to the man and his wonderful family at Soldier Field during halftime of the Cleveland Game..
So hopefully in his honor the Bears go out today and win one not for the Gipper, but for the man known as Sweetness, Walter Payton..my favorite professional athlete alongside one Michael Jordan, two men who will never be replicated in pro sports ever again.
Two of The classiest men to ever play pro sports as far as I'm concerned..these players of today can't hold their jocks on or off the field and court.
So in his memory today we say "Go Bears" and we'll have much more after the games today as I usually post.......
It's 16 to 0 Bears at Halftime by the way led by a scores from running back Matt Forte, a field goal from solid gold Gould and hopefully more to come....
By the way, here's some of my favorite pics of Walter throughout the years which are actually part of my webshots screensaver even today.
Walter in two of his most famous airborne goal line vaults we came to love in the 70's and 80's
On the lighter side here's a poster of him working his famous Arlington Heights Illinois mountain a mere couple miles from my home here which is now memorialized in a public golf course and named aptly Walter's Hill I do believe....
It was called Nickol's Knoll after his career BUT before his passing.... however, after his making it his world famous workout regimen (which we even tried duplicating as young high school football players unsuccessfully of course) was always known to Chicagoans as Payton's Hill ...which it is called today in his memory and always will be....
Here's another famous shot with a lesser known (lol) player of certainly lesser durability, old pain in the a** Jim McMahon, who couldn't keep himself from being injured while playing for the Bears, but did manage to help guide them to the Super Bowl in 1985 while Walter Led the Way, despite the major disappointment for he and fans alike when he was denied a touchdown in his only Super Bowl appearance..
He is truly a sports legend who is missed that will forever in the minds and hearts of football fans from all walks of life as the old saying goes..."God broke the mold after this man"...
In addition, here's a story featured in today's Trib about Payton and a statue standing in his honor back in his hometown Columbia Mississippi......another great read about a great man....
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Chicago Bears great Walter Payton always at home in bronze sculpture -- chicagotribune.com: "COLUMBIA, Miss. -- On the night before Walter Payton died from bile duct cancer 10 years ago Sunday, he couldn't speak. Feebly, Payton pointed to his lip as he lay in bed and asked his sister, Pam, to trim his mustache.
That was the image stuck in Pam Payton Curry's mind when she walked into a warehouse four years later to approve the life-sized sculpture of her brother. The sculpture's mustache had to be perfectly trimmed just like Walter requested the last night of his life, Pam told local sculptor Ben Watts.
'I wanted it to look like a better replica of him than the one in the (Pro Football) Hall of Fame,' Payton Curry said. 'And it does.'
This is how you honor Walter Payton with a statue." continue
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