Blessed with running backs from the time of Red Grange and Paddy Driscoll, the Bears found their stable empty in 1975. Spoiled by Bronko Nagurski and George McAfee and Beattie Feathers and Rick Casares, they were looking for the next Gale Sayers, whose electrifying NFL career was limited to 68 games by injury.
Chicago always preferred runners to passers. It is a city of linebackers and running backs, not receivers and quarterbacks. This is where pro football formed its roots and they run deep into the ground game. This is where football rarely strays from its basic elements — running and stopping the run. Leave the fancy passing to pretty boys and thin sprinters and warm climates and artificial turf; Chicago will keep its feet firmly planted in the dirt.
Jim Finks was the general manager and Jack Pardee was the new coach and Jim Parmer was the college scout. They wanted a running back as the first rebuilding block of a team that no longer had Sayers to run or Dick Butkus to tackle.
Walter Payton was setting college records at Jackson State. They were small-college records, but he was too good to miss or dismiss.
Parmer told Finks: “We can’t make a mistake on this kid.”
Finks needed to be convinced, but it didn’t take a crusade. Pardee wanted to look carefully at the bigger Don Hardeman of Texas A & I. In their three previous drafts, the Bears had selected middle linebacker Waymond Bryant from Tennessee State, Wally Chambers from Eastern Kentucky and Lionel Antoine from Southern Illinois as No. 1 picks. They didn’t shy away from small schools, but they wanted to make sure.
Payton was the leading scorer in NCAA history. He had scored 66 touchdowns and run for 3,563 yards, averaging a whopping 6.1 yards a carry. But while Archie Griffin was winning Heisman Trophies at Ohio State, Payton’s only other claim to fame was being a national finalist in the Soul Train dance contest.
“He was such a strong runner, good movement, could catch the ball, block. He’d do everything,” Parmer said. “He was special in a lot of different ways. And he was such a gosh darn nice kid, right from the start.”
Bill Tobin, who joined the Bears as a pro scout that year, had graded Payton while working for Green Bay.
“He was easy to find on film,” Tobin said. “The small-school question was, `Could they handle the big lights?’ But that was kind of a myth. Big-school guys have trouble coping, too.”
The Atlanta Falcons drafted first and took California quarterback Steve Bartkowski. The Dallas Cowboys debated between Payton and Maryland defensive lineman Randy White. Mike Ditka was on Tom Landry’s coaching staff.
“All the offensive guys voted for Payton and all the defensive guys voted for Randy,” Ditka said.
Landry went for defense. The Baltimore Colts took guard Ken Huff of North Carolina because they liked the running back they already had, Lydell Mitchell.
The Bears took Payton without hesitation. He was only 20 years old, having completed his degree in special education at Jackson State in 3 1/2 years. He was interested in audiology, the science of hearing and treating the hearing impaired. The Bears signed him to a three-year contract for nearly $500,000 with incentives, including a $126,000 signing bonus, more than fellow Mississipian Archie Manning got in 1971 from the New Orleans Saints.
“If the people of Chicago give me some time and are patient, I’ll give them a new Gale Sayers,” Payton said.
Payton didn’t want to erase any memories, he just wanted to continue the tradition. He reported to the College All-Star camp in Evanston to play the world champion Pittsburgh Steelers. He suffered an elbow injury that would slow his pro debut, but Pardee knew he had something special.
“You could tell he was a thoroughbred by just watching him run ropes. He had the magic feet,” Pardee said.
Safety Doug Plank, a 12th-round draft choice the same year, had played at Ohio State with Griffin.
“In five minutes at mini-camp, I could see Walter could do things Archie could not do, mostly in receiving, power, strength,” Plank said. “He was a bigger version, no disrespect to Archie.”
And make way for Walter.
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1971-74
Payton graduates from Jackson State as the leading scorer in NCAA history, leading the nation in scoring his junior and senior seasons. Behind his 65 touchdowns and 3,563 yards, the Tigers go 33-9-1.
