Welcome to our collection of quotes by Walter Payton. We hope you enjoy pondering them and please share widely.
Wikipedia Summary for Walter Payton
Walter Jerry Payton (July 25, 1954 – November 1, 1999) was an American professional football player who was a running back for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL). He is regarded as one of the greatest football players of all time. A nine-time Pro Bowl selectee, Payton is remembered as a prolific rusher, once holding records for career rushing yards, touchdowns, carries, yards from scrimmage, all-purpose yards, and many other categories. He was also versatile; he retired with the most receptions by a non-receiver, and he had eight career touchdown passes. He was elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1993, the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame that same year, and the College Football Hall of Fame in 1996. He was named to the NFL 75th Anniversary All-Time Team in 1994 and the NFL 100th Anniversary All-Time Team in 2019. Hall of Fame NFL player and coach Mike Ditka described Payton as the greatest football player he had ever seen—but even greater as a human being.
Payton began his football career in Mississippi and went on to have an outstanding collegiate football career at Jackson State University, where he was an All-American. He started his professional career with the Chicago Bears in 1975, who selected him with the 1975 Draft's fourth overall pick. Payton proceeded to win the 1977 AP NFL Most Valuable Player Award and won Super Bowl XX with the 1985 Chicago Bears. He retired from football at the end of the 1987 season having rushed for at least 1,200 yards in 10 of his 13 seasons in the NFL.
After struggling with the rare liver disease primary sclerosing cholangitis for several months, Payton died on November 1, 1999, from cholangiocarcinoma at the age of 45. His legacy includes being the namesake of the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award, Walter Payton Award, and a heightened awareness of the need for organ donations.
If you start something, you shouldn't quit; that is what we were taught. If you're going to play, you might as well play to be your best.
What is poor? We had food. We dressed well. We didn't have a lot, but what we had fit, and it was always neat.
I always thought, 'That's just the way you do it.' You work as hard as you can for as long as you can, and the small gains you make will eventually pay off.
Growing up, we played sports nonstop. I mean every single day. As soon I got done with breakfast, I was ready to go.
I want to be remembered as the guy who gave his all whenever he was on the field.
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.
No matter what the game was or how much older and stronger the other kids were, we were taught to give it everything we had until it was over. Never give less than one hundred percent.
A lot of fans were drawn to me because they knew that whatever the score was, I was going to run as hard as I could on every play. You don't have that now, you have guys waiting for next week or even next year.
I want to be remembered like Pete Rose. 'Charlie Hustle.' I want people to say, 'Wherever he was, he was always giving it his all.
When you're good at something, you'll tell everyone. When you're great at something, they'll tell you.
All people, regardless of whether they're athletes or not, should treat people the way they want to be treated.
I try to run on the hottest days, at the hottest time, because that's the most difficult time. And sometimes I worry about drying out, and dying.
Money isn't everything. Do you get married because of money? Do you have kids because of money?
Running alone is the toughest. You get to the point where you have to keep pushing yourself.
Never die easy. Why run out of bounds and die easy? Make that linebacker pay. It carries into all facets of your life. It's okay to lose, to die, but don't die without trying, without giving it your best.
Most important thought, if you love someone, tell him or her, for you never know what tomorrow may have in store.
If you could go back and change things, you might not be the person you are right now.
I am happy to say that everyone that I have met in my life, I have gained something from them; be it negative or positive, it has enforced and reinforced my life in some aspect.
When you speak of role models, when we talk to our kids, everybody is a role model, everyone, just as you look at a Michael Jordan to be the terrific athlete he is.
During the off-season when you see other people playing in the Super Bowl, you wonder, and you say to yourself, 'Are you ever gonna get there and see what it feels like?' And it pushes you a little bit harder during that off-season to work to try to get there the following year.
If I'm going to get hit, why let the guy who's going to hit me get the easiest and best shot? I explode into the guy who's trying to tackle me.
I developed my training routine going into my senior year at Jackson State. I found this sandbank by the Pearl River near my hometown, Columbia, Miss. I laid out a course of 65 yards or so. Sixty-five yards on sand is like 120 on turf, but running on sand helps you make your cuts at full speed.
I want to be remembered like Pete Rose. 'Charlie Hustle.' I want people to say, 'Wherever he was, he was always giving it his all.'