Never Die Easy: The Autobiography of Walter Payton

Never Die Easy: The Autobiography of Walter Payton
by Walter Payton, Don Yaeger

Never Die Easy: The Autobiography of Walter Payton
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Book Summary Information

Author: Don Yaeger, Walter Payton
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2001-09-11
ISBN: 0375758216
Number of pages: 288
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks

Book Reviews of Never Die Easy: The Autobiography of Walter Payton

Book Review: You'll Laugh, You'll Cry, You'll Cheer, You'll Learn
Summary: 5 Stars

This magnificent and inspiring story was written by Walter Payton shortly after he discovered that he had liver problems. He wanted to give something back to the fans of Chicago who had adored and revered him for so long, and this touching book is it.

Walter was the best running back ever to play the game, period. He never ran out of bounds, he could run like a deer, catch like a wide receiver, throw like a quarterback, and block like a truck. Coach Mike Ditka once said that when God wanted to make a halfback, he just chiseled a certain type of body and he gave it to Walter Payton. Walter may not have been the fastest or strongest, but he was the best simply because he refused to lose and he worked hard to be the best he could be.

I have never read a book that touched me the way this one did. At some points, I found myself on the verge of tears, while at other parts I found myself laughing out loud. The lessons that Walter talks about can be applied to anyone in their own lives. He believed that you should do your best at anything you set out to do, and if you don't succeed, at least you gave it your absolute best shot. His love for family and especially children are shining examples of the type of person Walter was. He never stopped signing at an autograph session until he had spoken to everyone. Our athletes of today should use this as an example to live by. Children were his passion. He set up a foundation in Chicago that delivers toys and clothes to children at Christmas. One year, they serviced over 50,000 children. Just imagine that for a moment!

I truly enjoyed the way this book was formatted. The trestimonials of such people as Mike Ditka, Jim McMahon, Roland Harper, Mike Singletary, and others offers insight into Walter the player as well as Walter the person. The way the narrative was interspersed between the testimonials was extremely well-done.

I simply could not put this book down. Once I started reading, I was hooked. Just reading about Walter's courageous fight against his disease gave me inspiration and helped me realize that some of my so-called problems were tiny compared to what he went through on a daily basis as his disease progressed. I especially enjoyed the last chapter, which contains the complete memorial speeches of Jarrett Payton, Eddie Payton, John Madden, Mike Singletary, and Mike Ditka.

Walter Payton touched countless numbers of lives with his humor, his charm, and his wit. This book is a fitting reminder to the type of person that Walter was; no nonsense, straight-forward, and loving. Read this moving book; you will surely enjoy it, and it will give you a different outlook on your own life, too.

Summary of Never Die Easy: The Autobiography of Walter Payton

"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.
Walter Payton's premature passing forced a rethinking of his autobiography that completely sidesteps the self-importance that dominates sports memoirs in general. Never Die Easy isn't a traditional autobiography at all. It's an oral history disguised as autobiography that relates the saga of the most exquisite running back in NFL history through an interweaving of Payton's words and the words of those who knew him, with necessary transitions and narrative bridged by his collaborator. The result is an appealing hybrid that mirrors Payton's quiet modesty. "He had not just been a great football player," writes Yaeger, "he had been a role model in an age when role models were in short supply."

The Payton that emerges is a man of great skill, decency, passion, and charity: a man beloved. Naturally, there's lots of football in Never Die Easy--the title comes from a saying of Payton's college coach--with eyewitness testimony provided by the likes of Mike Ditka, Mike Singletary, Jim McMahon, Franco Harris, Matt Suhey, and even Jim Brown, whose career rushing record Payton leaped over. But there is also lots of family: the voices of his wife, children, brother, and sister are heard.

But mostly, there is Walter Payton. It's his own unmistakably high-pitched voice that resonates throughout; he sets down the melody and the others harmonize. Payton was certainly astute about the game and his abilities, forthcoming both in triumph and failure--his unsuccessful attempt at winning the NFL franchise in St. Louis was a terrible post-career blow--and utterly decent. How many other superstar athletes could say, convincingly, "Too many of us only take. We don't give." Payton gave to the end--a man who died for want of an organ was willing and eager to donate his own. It was the ultimate testimony of his refined, unforgettable Sweetness. Never Die Easy offers a fair, honest, appreciative taste. --Jeff Silverman

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