FBI probed Payton death threat

More in this column: • Vagabond Lee Evans • BCS baloney

Walter Payton earned the nickname “Sweetness’’ for his beautiful playing style, ranking as the NFL’s career rushing leader until Emmitt Smith grabbed the top spot Sunday.

The likeable Payton enjoyed a legion of fans in Chicago and throughout the league, but -- as can be the case with high-profile athletes and public figures -- the Bears’ running back attracted a crazed detractor or two. Home run king Henry Aaron may have had it worse than any athlete in his pursuit of Babe Ruth’s record, requiring a police escort after games and the FBI eventually being called in to follow up on death threats.

In the case of Payton, at least one individual threatened to kill him days after the end of the 1982 season, according to his FBI file, which was obtained by CNNSI.com through a Freedom of Information request. The death threat was made in a typewritten letter dated Jan. 6, 1983, postmarked Chicago and sent to Payton at the Bears’ training complex in Lake Forest, Ill.

“To refresh your memory: Do not get your paper on time, neighborhood not protected, dog will not come to you," the writer warned Payton in a rambling four-paragraph letter.

Someone identified only as Scorpio of Chicago wrote the message.

Records show team and NFL security shared the letter with the FBI, who classified it as extortion. The federal agency investigated the matter for at least eight months, but it appears no arrest was ever made.

The threat surfaced four days after the Bears ended the strike-shortened season 3-6, which was Mike Ditka’s first as coach in Chicago. Payton, who spent his entire season with the NFL team, died in November 1999 from cancer.

In 1988, a year after Payton retired, records also indicate that then FBI director William Sessions wrote the NFL great upon his receiving a prestigious award from the Anti-Defamation League, saying: “As a highly successful sports figure, you serve as a role model to a multitude of young people throughout the country ... "

Running vagabond

Catching up with Lee Evans is no easy task. After setting a world record in the 400-meter run at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, Evans traveled the world for more than two decades, coaching in outposts like Nigeria, Ghana, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Without prodding, Evans tells you he was the world’s highest-paid track coach when he oversaw the Saudi program in the late 1990s. He settled into the head coaching job at South Alabama two years ago. We caught up with him outside Atlanta this weekend, where he was lecturing foreign coaches in a month-long International Olympic Committee program hosted by Life University.

Among other things, Evans is telling folks that American track athletes don’t work as hard as they used to.

“I can’t say all, but most American sprinters have this idea that they don’t have to work hard," Evans says. “I’m fighting with the girls on my team at the University of South Alabama. You tell them to run a 500 -- man, they cry bloody murder. They don’t see what a 500 has to do with 100 meters.

“The athletes I’ve coached in Africa definitely have the ability to work harder. I think the American sprinters have gotten soft. They have supplements. They’ll train up to 50 percent of what I did. So they are not as well-conditioned. They can’t come back and run three or four races fast like I used to. They can’t be consistent, especially the 400-meter runners.’’

Evans sets himself up as a case study.

His 400-meter record of 43.86 seconds held up nicely for 20 years until Butch Reynolds clocked 43.29. After all these years, the only other man to run faster is Michael Johnson, at 43.18.

“The difference is my first 200 meters was 21.4, whereas I think Michael was 21.1," he offers. “So I am three yards behind right there. The biggest difference was from 200 to 300 meters. He ran 10.6, I think. And I ran 11.0. So I am now seven yards behind. But the last 100 meters he ran 11.6 and I ran 11.4. So his speed showed in the early part of the race and my strength came back at the end."

Evans has great respect for Johnson and Reynolds because they proved to be consistent through the years. It’s another question with the rest of the 400-meter crowd.

Without sounding bitter, he points out that the top track athletes of his era -- Olympic medalists Tommy Smith, John Carlos, Ralph Boston and Bob Hayes -- rarely, if ever, lifted a weight. Their strength work consisted of push-ups and sit-ups. They didn’t have a shopping cart full of legal supplements, either. Just a one-a-day multiple vitamin.

“This all helps sprinters run faster," he says. “So that means we could have sprinted faster, I believe."

BCS baloney

Give this to the Bowl Championship Series -- there’s never been anything like it for stirring the pot, keeping the game in the headlines. But the more folks tweak this thing the goofier it gets.

Tell us how an undefeated University of Miami, defending champs and a team the BCS jobbed two seasons ago, could possibly not get invited to play in the Fiesta Bowl? Soft schedule? Please, the computers and every clown with a vote loved a non-conference schedule back in August featuring the 'Canes at Florida, at Tennessee and in the Orange Bowl versus Florida State -- all, by the way, solidly in the Sports Illustrated preseason Top 10.

Is Notre Dame to blame for Michigan’s fall from the Top 10, costing the Irish a quality win? Virginia Tech is hurt by its schedule, but in September a three-game run against LSU, Texas A&M and Marshall looked strong.

You have the BCS awarding Ohio State bonus points for its win against Top 10-ranked Washington State. But the formula doesn't take into account that the Cougars fattened up by hosting non-conference flyweights Nevada, Idaho and Montana State.

Personally, we’d love to see a half dozen schools end the season unbeaten and then listen to the Great Debate. What’s needed is an on-the-field means to settle this. Here we are saddled with 29 bowls (58 teams, sports fans) that are often nothing more than a nice getaway for the family of coaches and athletic department officials.

Miami assistant head coach Art Kehoe, never one to mince his words, echoes the sentiment of many coaches when he says the present system is flawed.

“If you win a national title in a playoff format, you don’t have to explain yourself to anybody," Kehoe offers. “You made the trips, put together the game plans, overcame the injuries and you won. Even last year, we had heckuva team and we’re sitting there explaining why we didn’t play Oregon. The year before, we beat Florida State and they are playing for the national title. What kind of system is that? We tell our kids, ‘Don’t worry about it. Just win games and ask questions later."

Mike Fish is a senior writer for CNNSI.com.

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