efore anyone in the NFL knew how good a running back Walter Payton was, Donnie Shell and Tim Harkness were believers.Shell, the Carolina Panthers director of player development and Harkness, Johnson C.
Smith's head coach, were college contemporaries of Payton, the former Chicago Bears star who died Monday from a rare liver disease and cancer at age 45. In the early '70s when
black college football still cranked out legions of players who would go on to the NFL, Payton, a star at Jackson State was the standard bearer.
"He was a beacon for us," said Harkness, who played at
Johnson C. Smith from 1973-77. "Everybody knew about Walter Payton, because we talked about guys from the SWAC and MEAC on campus, not Oklahoma or Nebraska.
"We knew Jackson State had somebody special in Walter Payton and Grambling had somebody special in (Super Bowl-winning quarterback) Doug Williams. We knew they were special."
Shell, who played college ball at S.C. State, first met Payton in 1974 at a black college All-America banquet sponsored by the Pittsburgh Courier. Payton was unassuming, in spite of finishing fourth in that season's
Heisman Trophy voting.
"He impressed me as a very humble person," Shell said. "He didn't say much."
But Payton's actions on the field were legendary. He's still the NFL's career rushing leader
with 16,726 yards, which includes a record 77 100-yard games. Payton was as respected for his toughness and tenacity as his running style, which earned him the nickname "Sweetness."
Shell found out the hard way when his Pittsburgh Steelers played Chicago in 1977.
"I told (teammate) Mel Blount don't let him come through that line," Shell said. "He gets
through and I'm thinking I'm going to lay the wood to him, but he hits me first. You're going to get hurt one way or the other."
Payton's relentless pursuit of excellence was already well-known in the black college ranks during his days at Jackson State. He carried it to the NFL, where he stood out on losing
Bears teams before winning a Super Bowl in 1985.
"He was Mr. Chicago," Shell said. "He was all they had. When you said Chicago, you were talking Walter Payton."
"There were a lot of times when he faced eight- and nine-man lines and he still got yards," Harkness said. "He got a lot of those yards on his own because they didn't have good lines."
Payton didn't the speed of an O.J. Simpson or power of a Jim Brown, but he was determined and versatile. Unlike today's specialists, Payton had the all-around skills to play every down.
"He's right up there" with the best backs of all time, Shell said. "He could do it all. He could run, catch, block, and he could throw. There's nothing he couldn't do."
Harkness, who was an assistant coach with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1991, said Payton's drive and skill is rare in today's players.
"In my mind, he was the best ever. Every time he ran, it was like if this was going to be the last time, he was going to give it his best and you were going to get his best," Harkness said.
Payton's "hard work and determination and being well-respected off the field as a family man" will be his legacy, Shell said. "He took those aspects on the field and he took them off the field."
