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Music Cues: Walter Payton
November 6, 1999
The old Chicago Bears linebacker Mike Singletary says that when his friend Walter Payton began to ease into death a few days ago, the confusion, pain, and loneliness of his last illness finally lifted from his face and he was left, says Mr. Singletary, "with a peace that is beyond
understanding."
Mr. Payton was surrounded by his wife and son, but also several of the men who had been his teammates over the years. They prayed with Walter Payton, held, bathed, and joked with the man who had once stiff-armed tacklers and
prankishly unlaced the shoes of referees. Those teammates won the Superbowl almost fourteen years ago. They have long since retired, scattered, and gotten on with new lives. But when Walter Payton was in pain and need, they rallied. One last time, in a sense, they tried to block for Walter Payton.
The scene at Mr. Payton's deathbed this week reminded me of the intensity offeeling among teammates. Walter Payton had a warm and loving family, but he was tied to those men in ways that even family and friends cannot approach. Mike Singletary says that Walter Payton himself, squeaking with laughter in his high-pitched voice, tended to lead the rounds of recollections and stories; and those stories were rarely about that single spendid and senational year in which they won the Superbowl, but ten years that preceded them -- when the Bears were singularly inept and hopeless. But Walter Payton made being a Bear something not only endurable, but extraordinary--not simply with his strength, skill, and class, but elfish sense of humor.
"Over time," said Mr. Singletary, "it's the laughs you tend to remember
most."
Most of us can only envy the astonishing talents, athletic and human, that
Walter Payton honed to such good use. But we might also admire the warmth of the men who surrounded him for so long -- the intensity of ties which years can stretch, but never break; the sense that when those teammates were once more in each other's company, even as one of them was dying, they could feel, if only for a few moments, young and strong filled with the future.
Ever since this show began, I have kept a picture of Walter Payton in my
office. I have a few others up, too -- of family and friends, an old pet and a deceased statesman. But I have kept Walter Payton's picture hanging up over my shoulder for the long hours of working overnight when you sometimes need to remind yourself that we are privileged to do the work we do which touches people, and need to feel the joy in that to work beyond weariness.
This week, Walter Payton's teammates could no longer block to protect him.
But they seemed to find some strength in the last scratches of his sweet,
squeaky laugh--and a peace beyond understanding.
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