Payton was a real inspiration to Rebels

By most accounts, Walter Payton was an intensely private man, who was guarded about most things in his life outside of football.

But when it came to his favorite college basketball team, the man called "Sweetness" was always eager to profess his loyalty.

Shortly after announcing his retirement, Payton became a fan of the UNLV basketball program. His devotion to the team grew to the point that he played a role in the greatest moment in UNLV sports history.

It was Payton who delivered the pregame pep talk minutes before the Rebels went out and destroyed Duke 104-73 in the 1990 NCAA Championship game at McNichols Arena in Denver.

"He talked about what a special night it was," recalled then-Rebels coach Jerry Tarkanian, now the head coach at Fresno State. "He was wonderful."

It was during that championship season that Payton made his allegiance to the Rebels known to Tark and then-athletic director Brad Rothermel. It was Rothermel who paved the way for Payton to deliver the pregame speech.

Tarkanian said that Payton told him he used to stay up late to watch the Rebels' games. "He even had one of those special satellites installed, just so he could watch the games," Tark recalled.

Like most, Tarkanian was saddened by news of Payton's death.

"We knew it was coming, because we knew he was sick, but it's still a big disappointment," Tarkanian said. "He was such a nice man."

UNLV football coach John Robinson knew Payton more as an intense competitor.

"I knew him some," said Robinson, whose LA Rams fell to the Super Bowl shuffling Bears in the 1985 NFC Championship game at frigid Soldier Field in Chicago. "We played against him and I coached with him a couple of times in the Pro Bowl. He stood out. In his era, he was probably the most respected, classiest player.

"I think even in the middle of his career people looked at him as being different than anyone else. He was like Michael Jordan was in basketball, just how he lived and went about his job."

Robinson wondered what Payton's legacy might have been had he played on some better teams than the Bears, who were mediocre at best during the pre-Mike Ditka days.

"The big thing is he put all those yards together on pretty average teams," Robinson said. "There was a Super Bowl at the end, but for the most part, he played on pretty average teams. So he had to labor to get those yards. There weren't a lot of easy yards for him to run through.

"In a time when it would have been easy for him to be arrogant, he was very humble."

archive