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'It's really sad to me' Ditka mourns Payton's loss, remembers his life
Posted: Monday November 01, 1999 10:43 PM
NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- His eyes red and weary looking, Mike Ditka's voice shook when he discussed the death of his former player and longtime friend Walter Payton. But as somber as the moment was, he couldn't help smiling at his memories of the man he calls the greatest football player ever. "It's really sad to me," Ditka said of the man he coached for six years with the Bears. "But the first though I had of him was not of sadness. It was of all the great things he meant to the city of Chicago and the Bears and the fans. To watch him play was pretty special." Ditka had been trying to reach Payton for three weeks, he said. When he could not get in contact with him, he assumed he was back at Mayo Clinic. Still, word of Payton's death stunned Ditka, who said he always felt someone so vital would overcome even serious illness. "I really think that Walter for the longest time felt it was just a matter of getting a liver transplant and being Walter again," Ditka said. "I really thing he believed that and I think a lot of people believed that including me. It was just a matter of when he gets the liver it's going to be Walter all over again, the same old guy." Ditka was coaching with the Dallas Cowboys in 1975 when Payton was on a headliner for the NFL draft. Payton had starred at Jackson State, a Division I-AA school, but that did not keep his talent from becoming well known, Ditka said. "I remember discussing whether we'd draft Walter or Randy White," Ditka said. "I remember we always had a staff meeting about those things and [Coach Tom Landry] always took a vote and all the offensive coaches for sure voted for Walter. Of course the defensive coaches voted for Randy, who was quite a college player also and a great Hall of Famer. And Tom was really a defensive coach so we ended up taking Randy. "I think things happen because they're supposed to happen and Walter was supposed to be a Chicago Bear." That's where Ditka's and Payton's paths finally entwined and a string of commonplace Bears teams suddenly turned special, eventually winning the 1985 Super Bowl. "I think he was the one guy that really worked hard at pulling that team together in the 80s when it could have come apart," Ditka said. "We were kind of a faction of offense and defense and he really worked hard at pulling it together and got each side to respect each other. We finally became a football team instead of an offense and a defense." On the way to the Super Bowl, Payton rushed for 1,551 yards and nine touchdowns as the Bears went 15-1 in the regular season, and also caught 49 passes for 483 yards receiving and two TDs. "That team probably wouldn't have been too good for a lot of years without Walter," Ditka said. "He was the catalyst that made the offense work." Ditka said as much as he will remember all the great runs Payton made in his career, he said there is much more that impressed him. "I looked at Walter differently," Ditka said. "I got as much pleasure watching him block somebody as watching him run for a touchdown. Or watching him catch a pass or throw a pass or kick the ball. He could do it all. In practice he did it as well as most people. He was just a talented guy. He was also the hardest working guy we had. He was the first guy there and the last guy to leave. He came to camp in the best shape of anybody that I've ever seen and he did it all on his own." Despite the pressure of getting the New Orleans Saints (1-6) ready for Sunday's game against Tampa Bay, Ditka said he planned to attend services for Payton. "As you get older, I'm finding some things I felt important are less important and how valued are the friendships that we've had and the friendships and the people who's lives have touched ours like Walter," Ditka said. "You take for granted that he's going to be here for a long, long time and he's not."
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