As Cook County Commissioner John Daley misread a Walter Payton Day proclamation from his brother, Mayor Richard M. Daley, and declared that “No. 33 was a team player,” you had to wonder if Payton wasn’t somewhere laughing, if he hadn’t somehow managed to slip the wrong number into Daley’s text as a parting prank for fans, friends and teammates.
With Mayor Daley honoring a previous commitment, John Daley was among local dignitaries who joined the Payton family and friends at Soldier Field on Saturday to recall the best of Payton, the way he lived his life.
Rev. Jesse Jackson, president of Rainbow PUSH Coalition, noted that on a tombstone are a person’s dates of birth and death. Neither of those is within the individual’s control, Jackson said. But in between is typically a dash, which represents the life lived between those dates, and that a person can control.
“When the dash is cut short, when the sun is eclipsed, we feel cheated,” Jackson said, recalling that Jesus Christ was 33 when he died, Martin Luther King Jr. 39, Payton 45. “You cannot determine the length of a dash but you can control the depth and the height.
“Walter made the most of the span of his dash.”
Bears thought: The Bears’ ownership was represented by Ed and Virginia McCaskey and other family members, many of whom had recollections of Payton.
“Walter Payton will forever be the yardstick by which anyone wishing to be thought of as the complete football player will be measured,” Bears Vice President Tim McCaskey said.
Payton Day all over: It was Walter Payton Day in Cook County as well as Chicago, according to a proclamation from Cook County Board President John Stroger. Stroger spoke of Payton the individual and added his perspective on Payton’s football accomplishments.
“Long before there was a Super Bowl title in Chicago,” Stroger said, “Walter Payton taught us how to be a champion.”
Tailgating: Lake Forest College student Chris Bruno and three friends headed to Soldier Field early Saturday, anticipating traffic and parking problems that had been forecast in media reports.
Instead, they cruised to the stadium and parked in a lot across the street . . . at 8:30 a.m. Fortunately, they had beer, burgers and a grill.
At their subdued tailgating facsimile after the service, Bruno said, “The whole thing made me pay homage to a man who changed me.”
He credited Payton and the Bears of the 1980s with “my bonding with my dad. We came to games here when we could.” Their trips included the game against New Orleans in which Payton set the career rushing record and a game against Atlanta in which he set a scoring record.
Asked what moved him most at the memorial, Bruno said, “Dan Hampton’s speech, talking about the Bears of the present taking inspiration from Walter Payton.”
More Top Picks Overlap
On hand: Cubs Hall of Famer Ernie Banks and Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White also were on hand for the ceremony.
A trooper: Lt. Col. Bill Davis, Region I commander of the Illinois State Police, expressed the appreciation of troopers throughout Illinois to Payton for his time and consideration given to police programs. Payton was named an honorary state trooper in 1986 and Davis concluded his remarks with the identifier: “Trooper Walter Payton.”