Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award

With the Super Bowl approaching and the finalists having been announced for the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award, I think this would be a good time to talk about the man himself, Walter Payton. The NFL Man of the Year Award was renamed to include Walter Payton's name after he passed away in 1977 to honor his memory. His widow, Connie Payton, is one of the members of the panel of judges.

Walter Payton has been on my mind quite a bit lately. It doesn't hurt that he's a Hall of Famer or that he's being talked about a lot on sports news stations. It also doesn't hurt that he's another one of our Keepr NFL Legends (a title he definitely deserves). So, I picked up his Keepr and plugged it into my laptop and let it take me back. Flipping through the photos I saw one from Superbowl XX. I remember that game. The Chicago Bears decimated the New England Patriots 46-10. I flipped through a bunch more and was astonished once again when Walter Payton goes airborne to earn his 100th career touch down.

After flipping through his career photos, I watched his career through interviews and game footage. After watching the Hall of Fame speech of this former RB of Chicago Bears, there's no doubt in mind he is one of the most prolific running backs to ever play the game. He's easily in the same category as Lenny Moore and Franco Harris. I can remember watching him put a move on somebody and everybody would dive of the waist line and he'd be to the right or the left. He was just a phenomenal running back and an over all great guy. He was just an exciting player to watch. He was a guy who had moves that nobody else had. He was absolutely exciting to watch. The fans LOVED him.