Never Die Easy
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Overview
"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 withillness 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.
Synopsis
"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.
Publishers Weekly
It's a testament to Payton's greatness as a man that nearly half his autobiography can be devoted to what he achieved after his career. "Sweetness" may hold the NFL's career rushing record, and he may have been one of the toughest, hardest-working players ever, but he was also devoted to keeping spirits high around him, even when facing the end of his own life, and committed to helping needy children. He was so important to others that many immediately took up the latter task when he was dying--and tens of thousands more sent him their prayers and sympathy. (Payton died of liver cancer in November 1999.) With a protagonist like this, Payton's book isn't your standard sports bio. Nor is it traditional in structure. Because Payton died before his autobiography was completed, his interviews have been supplemented by the stories and thoughts of family and friends, with sports biographer Yaeger providing the connective tissue. More an oral history than an autobiography, the book sometimes suffers for it. Payton's career is dealt with summarily; frequently, stories are repeated, if from different perspectives, and Payton's many remarkable qualities are each noted many times over. The five eulogies from his funeral all elaborate on the same points: his skills and his humility. Payton had an abundance of each. (Sept.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|
Editorials
From Barnes & Noble
Bookseller ReviewsWalter Payton, the man they called Sweetness, ran and ran and ran. As a National Football League back, he gained nine and a half miles (16,726 yards) in his thirteen year career. But after Payton died of liver canceron November 1st, 1999, he wasn't praised as just the greatest runner in N.F.L. history; he was lauded as a remarkable person; a man who, on the edge of death, refused to use his celebrity status to jump the line for a new liver. In fact, in the days after his demise, one heard the same words repeatedly: "He was even a better person than he was a player." Imagine. this autobiography, crafted by Don Yaeger in the last months of Payton's life, could make all but the most heartless cry. The title derives from advice his coach Bob Hill gave Payton on getting hit: "if you're going to die anyway, die hard; never die easy." But Payton didn't die easy; he died sweet.
Publishers Weekly -
It's a testament to Payton's greatness as a man that nearly half his autobiography can be devoted to what he achieved after his career. "Sweetness" may hold the NFL's career rushing record, and he may have been one of the toughest, hardest-working players ever, but he was also devoted to keeping spirits high around him, even when facing the end of his own life, and committed to helping needy children. He was so important to others that many immediately took up the latter task when he was dying--and tens of thousands more sent him their prayers and sympathy. (Payton died of liver cancer in November 1999.) With a protagonist like this, Payton's book isn't your standard sports bio. Nor is it traditional in structure. Because Payton died before his autobiography was completed, his interviews have been supplemented by the stories and thoughts of family and friends, with sports biographer Yaeger providing the connective tissue. More an oral history than an autobiography, the book sometimes suffers for it. Payton's career is dealt with summarily; frequently, stories are repeated, if from different perspectives, and Payton's many remarkable qualities are each noted many times over. The five eulogies from his funeral all elaborate on the same points: his skills and his humility. Payton had an abundance of each. (Sept.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|VOYA
This book was completed by co-author Yaeger after Payton's 1999 death caused by a rare liver disease. Departing from a straightforward autobiography format, the book consists primarily of reminiscences by Payton, family members, friends, and football and business colleagues. The reader is shown glimpses of his life, from his childhood in a small Mississippi town to his football career to his worthwhile work with children's charities, and ultimately through his illness to his death. One of the National Football League's greatest running backs, Payton set a career rushing record and missed only one game in his thirteen years with the Chicago Bears. Throughout each remembrance, the same qualities appear: Payton's hard work, his never-give-up attitude, his generous charity work, and his graceful handling of being a role model. Particularly telling of his personality is that he never cared for the little jig that some football players do in the end zone; he felt that the practice calls too much attention to the individual player. The conversational format can be tedious, with one person sometimes repeating the same things that another has mentioned. The biographical facts on Payton are hidden within the recollections. There is no index to locate references to his hometown, his football statistics, his press conference about his illness, or his views on organ donation. Nevertheless the format does lend itself to a more intimate feeling, almost as if one were speaking to the contributors. As someone who always tried his hardest at anything he attempted, Payton would be pleased that readers are left with this inspirational story. This book is for libraries serving true sports lovers.Photos. VOYA CODES: 3Q 2P J S A/YA (Readable without serious defects; For the YA with a special interest in the subject; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12; Adult and Young Adult). 2000, Villard, 268p, . Ages 14 to Adult. Reviewer: Jane Van Wiemokly SOURCE: VOYA, April 2001 (Vol. 24, No.1)Library Journal
This is a posthumous autobiography of the late, great Walter Payton, the National Football League's all-time leading rusher. The book chronicles his days at Jackson State University, his pro career with the NFL's Chicago Bears, and his death on November 1, 1999 from lung cancer. The title epitomizes Payton's football career; college coach Bob Hill once told him "If you are going to die anyway, die hard, never die easy," and that became his motto. Unequivocally, Payton was a true sports hero, one comfortable with the celebrity status, always polite, and aware of his position as a role model. Payton and coauthor Don Yaeger used a unique format in documenting the athlete's life: Each of the 19 chapters features a cast of characters who provide insights about the man they called Sweetness. Recommended purchase for all public libraries. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 5/15/00.] Larry R. Little, Penticton P.L., BC Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.\Michael Lichtenstein
Walter Payton, who died on Nov. 1, 1999, at the age of 45, was esteemed as far more than a football player. His coach with the Chicago Bears, Mike Ditka, considered him the greatest football player he had ever seen but even greater as a human being. Never Die Easy, written just before Payton's death from liver cancer with Don Yaeger, author of Pros and Cons: The Criminals Who Play in the N.F.L., draws a vivid portrait of this many-faceted man who journeyed from his childhood home, Columbia, Miss., to the National Football League, where he set the career rushing record of 16,728 yards. He tells of his struggle with cancer and of his decision not to use his fame to move up on the list of organ transplant candidates. Payton had hoped that Never Die Easy would be inspirational, and as with most everything that he attempted, he succeeded.—New York Times Book Review