描述
开 本: 32开纸 张: 胶版纸包 装: 平装是否套装: 否国际标准书号ISBN: 9780375758218
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. It doesn’t mean that they accomplished it or
failed, it means that they’ve given it their best. That’s a winner.
?Walter Payton — Review
”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.”
His legacy is towering. Walter Payton—the man they called
Sweetness, for the way he ran—remains the most prolific running
back in the history of the National Football League, the star of
the Chicago Bears’ only Super Bowl Championship, eleven times voted
the most popular sports figure in Chicago’s history. Off the field,
he was a devoted father whose charitable foundation benefited tens
of thousands of children each year, and who—faced with terminal
liver disease—refused to use his celebrity to gain a preferential
position for organ donation. Walter Payton was not just a football
hero; he was America’s hero.
Never Die Easy is Walter Payton’s autobiography, told from the
heart. Growing up poor in Mississippi, he took up football to get
girls’ attention, and went on to become a Black College
All-American at tiny Jackson State (during which time he was also a
finalist in a Soul Train dance contest). Drafted by the Bears in
1975, he predicted that he would last only five years but went on
to play thirteen extraordinary seasons, a career earning him
regular acknowledgment as one of the greatest players in the
history of professional football. And when his playing days were
over, he approached business and charity endeavors with the same
determination and success he had brought to the football field,
always putting first his devotion to friends and family. His
ultimate battle with illness truly proved him the champion he
always had been and prompted a staggering outpouring of love and
support from hundreds of thousands of friends and admirers.
Written with veteran journalist and author Don Yaeger in the last
weeks of Walter Payton’s life, Never Die Easy presents Walter’s
singular voice—warm, plainspoken, funny, self-aware—along with the
voices of the friends, family, teammates, and business associates
who knew him best at all stages of his life, including his wife,
Connie, and their children, Brittney and Jarrett; his teammate and
friend Matt Suhey; former Bears head coach Mike Ditka; and many,
many others.
Walter made Don Yaeger promise that his book would be
“inspirational and leave people with some kind of lesson . . . and
make sure you spell all the words right.” Never Die Easy keeps all
those promises.
Foreword
Author’s Note
Cast of Characters
The Greatest Bear of Them All
Growing Up
High School
Jackson State
Going to Chicago
The Early Years
The Record
Matt and Me
Super Bears
Retirement
The Businessman
Giving Back to Charity
Family
Walter Gets Sick
Press Conference
Organ Donorship
Like a Train Going Downhill
Remember Me
The Memorial
Afterword
Acknowledgments
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. It doesn’t mean that they accomplished it or
failed, it means that they’ve given it their best. That’s a winner.
?Walter Payton — Review
The Greatest Bear of Them All
The young man from Columbia, Mississippi, would have been
shocked, maybe even a little embarrassed, by all the attention. He
certainly would have been humbled. In the hours after Walter Payton
passed away on November 1, 1999, something special happened to the
world of sports. For one shining moment, people forgot the problems
that plague sports today?disrespectful athletes, teams holding
cities hostage, out-of-control fans?and focused instead on what is
good about sports, all of which was embodied by that young man from
Columbia.
Few things can bring a city as vibrant as Chicago to a
standstill. Fewer still are the things that can bring together a
group of loosely organized people, a group like those involved in
professional football. So forgive Connie Payton if she was, as she
said, absolutely awestruck by the reaction that followed her
husband’s death. Sports fans will not soon forget where they were
when they heard that the Greatest Bear of Them All was gone.
A zealously private man, Walter Payton had left pro football
nearly thirteen years earlier and had only rarely attended games
and participated in NFL-related events. Walter had grown to believe
there wasn’t much more he could do for the game he once played.
There weren’t many players he admired and even fewer whom he
enjoyed watching. The game, he worried, was in trouble because so
many players didn’t understand the value of team, didn’t understand
what it was like to have played in “his time” even though it was
really not so long ago. Walter had worried there was nothing left
he could give to the game.
Nothing, Connie Payton found out, could be further from the
truth.
During the first few days of November 1999, coaches, players,
fans, and broadcasters from across the country took time out to
talk about Walter Payton and what he had meant to them. What he
meant was not 3,838 carries, 16,728 yards, 110 touchdowns. What he
meant was more than that. Those eulogizing him chose instead to
recall a story about a time they saw him sign an autograph for a
fan in a hospital, spend pregame time talking to those in the
stands or cuddling a child handed down to him from the crowd.
The grief and affection that flowed from all corners of America
served as a billboard-size lesson of what the game once was and
should still be. Yes, he held great records. Yes, his runs were
often spectacular?even the runs that gained only a handful of
yards. Yes, he was the most talented player of what many considered
the most talented professional football team in the modern era. He
showed that you could be a superstar and still be someone whom
people could touch. He was down-to-earth, funny, always looking for
a rear end to pinch. He loved to laugh, showing off that perfect
smile, yet he wasn’t afraid to cry. He was a man’s man and every
mother’s dream. Payton had not just been a great football player,
he had been a role model in an age when role models are in short
supply.
Most would agree that the death of almost any other player would
not have hit lovers of football quite the way Walter Payton’s
untimely passing did. The league asked teams to fly flags at
half-mast. Moments of silence were offered at stadiums from Buffalo
to San Diego. Players remembered him by scribbling his name or
number on their shoes. And while honoring him, those in pro
football came together in a way that touched even the most
hardened. Honoring his passing brought together the men who had
played with and against him, the coaches who had tried to stop him,
younger players who knew him only through video highlights, and
fans, many of whom had never even seen him play. In that time of
mourning, pro football rallied and became a community again.
And maybe that was Walter’s greatest gift?not his athletic talent
but his unmatched ability to touch all those who came in contact
with him.
Connie Payton: Walter would have been shocked at the response
from people all around the world upon his passing. I was quite
shocked. When we were making the funeral arrangements, Ginny and
Matt kept talking about security to help with crowd control. They
mentioned checkpoints at the door of the church and finding a
church large enough to hold the number of people that would be in
attendance. I looked at them with this puzzled expression on my
face and said, “What are you two talking about?” Their response to
me was “Don’t you realize how many people are going to want to
attend Walter’s funeral and the memorial service?” It was more than
I ever imagined and knowing Walter the way that I do, I’m sure that
he would have been just as surprised. I wondered what it was about
him that made people respond the way they did. As quiet as he could
be there must have been something magical about the way he reacted
around others. Then I realized that it was nothing magical but his
genuine spirit and his openness that set him apart from all the
other athletes. It didn’t matter who the person was that wanted his
time. He would stop and talk, even when he didn’t want to at times.
About a week or so after he passed, my mother and I were at the car
wash and we were approached by several people telling their
personal Walter stories. There were also stories of encounters with
Walter that had been told to them by friends or family members. The
stories were as simple as: He held my baby, he touched my son’s
head, asked him how he was doing in school, made him give Mom or
Dad a kiss, then said to them, That’s what you are supposed to do.
He did have a special way with kids and he loved babies. The
stories could go on and on, but it’s evident as to why people felt
that they knew him personally.
Eddie Payton (Walter’s brother): Walter’s last days were pretty
much the greatest days of my life, being able to be there with him
at the end. It wasn’t a sad time, but it was an emotional time. You
had a mother, a brother, and a wife, a son and a daughter, taking
care of him. He knew what was happening, was well aware of it,
accepted it. He knew what his fate was, never asked me why, never
bitter, enjoyed every day that he was with us. He talked and
laughed and joked with people who came in to visit as long as he
could. As long as his stamina would allow, and then he’d rest. Then
he’d wake up and be ready to talk again. It was one of the most
beautiful things that I’d ever witnessed and one of the greatest
shows of courage that, in my short lifetime, I’ve ever witnessed.
Because for a man to go with that much pride and that much dignity
just says volumes about who he was. He crammed about as much as he
could in forty-five years of life. I mean, he helped, touched,
inspired, worked for the betterment of so many people. And then he
was able to accomplish some of his lifetime goals. Got two great
kids who are going to be great Americans. One’s gonna be a hell of
a football player. And he’s instilled in them some of the things
that our parents instilled in us. And when you look at your kids
and see them doing well, or better than you did, you say, I’ve done
something right. Walter said that before he finally died.
Connie Payton: Matt was spending a great deal of time at the
house with Walter. On Saturday, nine days before Walter died, Matt
came over to take him out for a ride, which he did often. It was a
good morning for Walter. He shaved, got dressed, and the two of
them went out for a little while. Several weeks before, we had
started him on a liquid nutrition supplement, which was working out
extremely well. He was feeling a lot stronger, doing more things
around the house. We would take longer walks in the neighborhood.
We all felt that he was getting better with each day. We also had
nurses stopping in to do the treatments that we couldn’t do at home
ourselves. One of the things that we had to do often was to take
his temperature. Walter had a PICC line in his right shoulder,
which was used to draw blood and feed him his nutrition. It was
also inserted there to make it easier for everyone involved because
Walter had a fear of needles and wouldn’t let anyone near him to
draw blood from his veins, which had started to collapse. On that
Saturday evening, the nurse found that he was running a slight
temperature. She said that we should watch it and that she would
take it again when she came in on Sunday morning. She came that
morning and found that he was still running a fever. We were told
to call the doctor, which we did. The doctor asked us to come to
the hospital just to make sure that an infection hadn’t set
in.
We took Walter to the Midwest Treatment Center. My family and I
thought that maybe it was time to change the PICC line because it
was only a temporary line anyway. We didn’t worry because he seemed
to be in good spirits. As a matter of fact, on our way to the
hospital we had a great conversation with one of his former
teammates, Thomas Sanders, and his family, who were waiting outside
our home. We talked for a while, then he and Thomas hugged and
kissed before we went on our way. The doctors were waiting for us
when we arrived at the hospital around two-thirty p.m. Walter got
out of the car on his own. A wheelchair was waiting to take him
upstairs.
When we went to the hospital, we had no reason to think anything
but that possibly Walter had a minor infection, but little did we
know that it was a bigger problem. His body was beginning to shut
down. The fluid that he started to retain was because his kidneys
were failing. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing or hearing. In
less than three and a half hours, my husband could no longer get
himself up, he could hardly speak. He was aware that something more
serious was happening to him. The doctors explained that they
wanted to put him on dialysis. I then had to tell him what they
wanted to do; his eyes were open very wide. I told him that we
should consider it, do whatever we had to do to live. He said to do
whatever I thought was right.
By Sunday night, his mother and I knew that his condition was
getting worse. The doctor had started the dialysis to relieve
pressure. The doctors knew medically there was not much more that
they could do for Walter. We all wanted him to be comfortable. He
was sleeping a great deal and we made the decision not to say
anything to him about the grim outlook. Such dramatic changes in
such a short period of time. Again I thanked the good Lord for our
reaching the hospital before any of this happened.
On Monday morning, the doctors said to have Jarrett come home
from Miami. I made the dreaded call to the University of Miami,
spoke to the athletic director and coaches. I wanted them to know
all the details so that they could help prepare our son
emotionally. Jarrett was not told all the details, but he knew that
it was important for him to get home. We made the travel
arrangements, which got him home late Monday night. Once he arrived
home, he, Brittney, and I had a talk about the turn of events. On
Tuesday morning, we all went to the hospital to see Walter. It was
very emotional for all of us. Brittney took it the hardest. The
kids talked to him, held his hand, and kissed him. He recognized
them, he even said a few words to Jarrett. I really think he knew
that Brittney was upset, so he held on to her hand tightly. He was
very tired, but was trying hard to stay with us. We told him to
rest, that we would all be there for him.
On Wednesday, after talking to his doctors and being told that
there was nothing more to do to better his condition, I decided to
bring him home, where I knew he would want to be. Walter loved our
home; after all it was our dream house. The hospital made all the
arrangements to have hospice available and to get all the necessary
hospital equipment set up at the house so that we could make him as
comfortable as possible. I wanted everything to be perfect, nothing
broken, nothing missing! Once things were in order, the ambulance
arrived for the trip home. It seemed like a long trip home, so
different than the trip to the hospital. The one thing that was the
same for me is that I had the same faith to keep believing and
trusting in God. After all, faith is believing in the things
unseen, and we walk by faith, not by sight.
Walter was amazing. He fought to live. Our friends and I prayed
long and hard. We were not giving up hope; as a matter of fact his
condition seemed as if it was getting better. He began to respond
to us more and his kidneys were functioning better also. He didn’t
seem as swollen and his eyes were not as jaundiced. We were very
thankful for what was happening. We were so sure that he was
getting better that I had planned to send Jarrett back to Miami on
Tuesday, November 2.
We brought Walter home because the doctors said that there was
nothing more that they could do for him. I knew this, yet I was not
prepared for him to die. I wanted so badly for him to get better.
He too wanted to beat this dreaded disease. There were so many
things to do, for instance watching Jarrett begin his football
career at UM, watching Brittney grow into a beautiful young lady
with so much to offer the world that lies before her.
评论
还没有评论。