Walter Payton

High school

John J. Jefferson High School

College

Jackson State University

Pro team(s)

Chicago Bears

Hall of Fame

⭐ Pro Football Hall of Fame

Walter Jerry Payton was born on July 25, 1954, in Columbia, Mississippi, the son of a factory worker and a homemaker who raised their children in the small Marion County town on the Pearl River. He attended the historically Black John J. Jefferson High School in Columbia before going on to Jackson State University, one of Mississippi's HBCUs, where he set new records for rushing yards and touchdowns and established himself as a player of singular gifts. The Chicago Bears selected him fourth overall in the 1975 NFL Draft, and what followed over 13 seasons was a career that most football historians rank as the greatest running back performance in the history of the professional game. He rushed for 16,726 yards — breaking Jim Brown's all-time record in 1984 — and scored 110 rushing touchdowns. He caught 492 passes for 4,538 yards. He was selected to nine Pro Bowls. He never missed a game in his entire career, playing 186 consecutive games through illness, injury, and circumstances that would have sidelined lesser players. He was the offensive centerpiece of the 1985 Chicago Bears — the most dominant team in the history of the NFC — which won Super Bowl XX by 46-10. His nickname "Sweetness" was given to him in college and followed him to Chicago, where it captured something essential about how he played: with a joy and elegance and generosity of spirit that made him not only a great player but a beloved human being. He died of a rare liver disease in November 1999 at age 45. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1993 in his first year of eligibility. Born and raised in Columbia, Mississippi.