Walter Jerry Payton (July 25, 1954 – November 1, 1999) was an American football player, who played for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League. He is remembered as one of the most prolific running backs in the history of American football. Payton, a nine-time Pro Bowl selection, once held the League’s record for most career rushing yards, touchdowns, carries, and many other categories. He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1993. The NFL player and coach Mike Ditka described Payton as the greatest football player he had ever seen - but even greater as a human being.

Payton began his football career in Mississippi, and went on to have an outstanding collegiate football career at Jackson State University . He started his professional career with the Bears in 1975, who selected him as the 1975 Draft’s fourth overall pick. Payton proceeded to win two NFL Player of the Year Awards, and won Super Bowl XX with the 1985 Chicago Bears. After struggling with a rare liver disease for several months, Payton died in 1999 at the age of 45.

"Sweetness" Walter Payton was one of three children born to Peter and Alyne Payton in Columbia, Mississippi. His father was a factory worker who had played semi-professional baseball. He was an active member of the Boy Scouts, Little League, and his local church. At Jefferson High School, Payton played drums in the marching band, participated in the track team as a long jumper, and sang in the school choir. Outside of school he played in jazz-rock groups. During his first few years at high school, his older brother Eddie was on the football team, and Payton did not play partly to avoid competing with him. After Eddie graduated, the football coach asked him to try out for the team, and he agreed with the proviso that he be allowed to continue playing in the band.

Once he began to play football, as a sophomore, he achieved instant success as a running back, gaining 65 yards on his first carry. At 5'10" he was not especially large, but his speed and strength made him one of the team's featured players. Jefferson High School was integrated with neighboring Columbia High School that year; Payton and his teammates were upset that their head coach had become an assistant, and Payton boycotted some of the spring practices in protest, but returned during the fall season.He then earned state-wide honors as a member of Mississippi's all-state team, leading Columbia to an unexpected 8-2 season.

Payton's motto was "Never Die Easy", a goal which he attributed to his coach at Jackson State, Bob Hill. In practice this meant that he refused to deliberately run out-of-bounds, and always delivered some punishment to his tacklers before being forced off the field or forced down.

One of Payton's signature maneuvers was the "stutter-step", a high-stepping, irregularly-paced run. He developed this as a way to distract his pursuers during long runs, saying that it startled them into thinking and gave him some advantage over players who were actually faster runners.He revived the practice of stiff-arming his tacklers, which had gone out of favor among running backs in the 1970s. At times he used his high school experience as a long jumper to leap over his opponents, landing on his head in the end zone to gain a touchdown in a game against the Buffalo Bills. His running gait was somewhat unusual, as his knees were minimally bent, and the motion was largely powered from the hip. This may have given his knees, a football player's most vulnerable joints, some protection, although he underwent arthroscopic surgery on both knees in 1983. He referred to this procedure as an 11,000-yard checkup.

After scoring a touchdown, Payton declined to celebrate; instead, he would often hand the ball to his teammates. He disapproved of the growing practice of touchdown celebrations; he preferred post-game antics such as rushing into the locker room and locking his fellow teammates out in the cold while taking a long shower.

While Payton might have won the respect of his peers and coaches by his running alone, he made 492 receptions over his career and was a consistent threat in the passing game.

on announced that he had a rare liver disease known as primary sclerosing cholangitis, which soon led to the growth of a cancerous tumor on his liver. As a well-loved public figure and celebrity, he had been offered the option of moving up on the waiting list for liver organ donors. He declined this offer (because it meant someone else would die because of him) and accepted a place on the waiting list; according to a surgeon at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, he might have survived if he had accepted when his disease was first diagnosed. Payton spent his final months as an advocate for organ transplants, appearing in many commercials to encourage others to donate organs, although by the time his first appeal was recorded, he had been told that his illness was already too far advanced for transplantation to have been a viable option. The following April, Payton made a final public appearance at a Chicago Cubs game with Mike Ditka, where he threw the game's ceremonial first pitch. Author Don Yaeger worked with him during the last weeks of his life to create his autobiography, Never Die Easy.

On November 1, 1999, Payton died from the complications that arose from his illness. During the same week, the NFL held special ceremonies in each game to commemorate Payton's memory. In addition, the Chicago Bears wore special #34 patches on their jerseys to honor Payton.

The speakers at Payton's public funeral service, held in Soldier Field, included Jesse Jackson, National Football League Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, former teammate Dan Hampton, his widow Connie Payton, and his children, Jarrett and Brittney Payton. Among the 2,000 mourners at the private service were John Madden, Illinois Governor George Ryan, Chicago's mayor Richard M. Daley, former teammates Matt Suhey, Mike Singletary, Roland Harper, and Jim McMahon, as well as the Bears' equipment manager, building superintendent, and many other people representing a wide racial, social, political, and economic spectrum.