Why the NFL Renamed Its Annual Award: The NFL Walter Payton Man of the Year Award

His career total included 16,726 rushing yards for the Chicago Bears in 13 seasons, first on the all time list at his retirement. Since then, Emmitt Smith of the Dallas Cowboys surpassed the total of Walter Payton with 17,418 in 14 seasons. Payton, a former standout at Jackson State, who died in 1999, won the NFL rushing title for five straight years, from 1976-1980, rushed for 275 yards against Minnesota in 1977, rushed for more than 100 yards 77 times, scored 110 rushing touchdowns, and accounted for 21,803 net yards during an illustrious Hall of Fame career. He was the NFL's most valuable player in 1977 and 1985, the season the Bears won the Super Bowl. As great as he was as a football player, not many know his accomplishments as a humanitarian, but as a demonstration that they were many, the NFL Man of the Year Award was renamed the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award. He missed one game during his rookie season and then played in 186 straight games.

In 1998 Payton who retired in 1988, announced he had Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis, a condition which might lead to cancer of the bile ducts in the liver. On November 1, 1999, he died. Organ donation skyrocketed in Illinois since his death.


Before his death, Walter Payton founded the Walter and Connie Payton Foundation to provide emotional healing of neglected, abused, and underprivileged children by helping to build self esteem and encourage a better family unit. The Foundation's goal is to help children in Illinois.

"Children have always brought a tremendous amount of joy to me, and I feel if you can catch them at a young age, you can really change a life," Walter Payton said, as quoted on the official website of the foundation, www.payton34.com. He added that one act of kindness has a 40% chance of "making that child have a completely different outcome" in his or her life.