Walter Payton's Hard Work example essay topic

Sweetness What comes to mind when you hear the word sweetness? For millions of football fans across the world they think of the greatest football player ever, Walter Payton. Walter Payton didn't become the greatest football player to ever play the game overnight. Walter Payton worked hard and pushed himself to be the best.

There are many reasons why Walter Payton excelled in everything he did. One reason was that Walter Payton took all challenges head on. Walter Payton's work ethic was one reason he excelled. Walter Payton had a childhood filled with hard work, was a great football player, and fought cancer to the end. A reason Payton excelled later in life was because of the work ethic he had as a child. As a child Payton was a very hard worker.

Payton got his work ethic from his parents Peter and A lyne. Payton's parents were always doing something and so were they " re children. Every summer Payton's mother made Payton and his brother spread 100 lbs of dirt over the yard, to keep them busy (Payton, Walter 22). Payton not only worked hard around the house, but he worked hard in school also. Walter Payton was an A and B student (Payton, Walter 41). Payton was also a very active kid.

If Payton wasn't working then he was playing sports. Payton played just about every sport that there was to play. Payton's work ethic served him well when he played sports because he always gave it his best. Payton did many things to be in shape for football. Payton would jog a mile to practice, practiced, then ran a mile home (Payton, Walter 41). Payton also ran long distances in the woods in heavy boots, and dodged trees like defenders (Payton, Walter 41).

This shows just how much of a dedicated athlete Payton was. Sometimes Payton would push himself so hard in his workouts that he would vomit (Payton, Walter 23). Walter followed his strict workout and used his outstanding work ethic to do so. Payton didn't even start playing football till he was a junior in highschool (Harris, Jaime C. ).

Payton excelled in football due to the effort he put into it. Payton gave his all play after play, whether it was tied his team was being destroyed or his team was winning. This great effort is what helped make him the greatest of all time. Payton had a unique running style unlike the style of today's running backs. Payton had an old school running style (Payton, Walter 93). Payton never backed away from collision and always looked to make contact (Payton, Walter 93).

Payton always tried to gain that extra inch to help his team. Not only was Payton an awesome running back, probably the best ever, but Payton could do things other running backs couldn't like block. Payton could block as well as anyone, this was shown when he flattened a Viking line backer (Bears Running Back). This style of play is what made Payton so good it allowed his teammates to rely on him.

Payton worked hard to make sure all aspects of his game in top performance. Payton wanted not only to be able run the ball like a great, but he wanted to catch and block like a great. One time Payton even played QB (Official Walter Payton Foundation). Payton's work ethic served him well in the NFL it made him work hard even when his team was the worst in the NFL. If it wasn't for Payton's perseverance and patience he never would " ve led his team to a Super Bowl victory nor would he be the greatest player of all time. Payton and Franco Harris were racing to break Jim Brown's rushing record, and Payton wanted to break it first.

Franco Harris had a 325-yard lead, but Payton gave it his all and passed Harris' 325 yard lead and then went on to break the record first. Payton has many 10 NFL records like the most 100 yard games which is 77 (Official Walter Payton Foundation). Payton also is second all time in total rushing yards with 16,726 yards (Harris, Jaime C. ). Payton was also voted nine times to the NFL Pro Bowl. Payton finally had his dream come true when he helped the Bears win the 1984 Super Bowl. All of Walter Payton's hard work finally payed off when he was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame in 1993.

Soon Payton would have to face his biggest challenge ever. In 1998 Walter Payton thought there was something wrong with him. Payton was right, and he had a rare liver disease known as primary sclerosing cholangitis or PSC (Official Walter Payton Foundation). Payton started to get weak physically, however he was still strong mentally he wasn't going to give in that easily. Payton needed a liver transplant and was placed on a transplant list. Payton kept getting worse and he began losing a lot of weight.

Walter later found out that he had a tumor in his liver and that he had bile duct cancer. The cancer then spread to Walter Payton's lymph nodes and Walter was now unable to receive a liver transplant. Early on Walter was still confident that he was going to beat the cancer. Mike Di tka said, "He " ll show the world how to fight". (Payton, Walter 219).

However, Payton wanted little fan fare about his sickness. Walter still had plenty of fight left in him and he was going to fight cancer to the end. Walter fought cancer like he did everything else, he gave it his all. Walter Payton was used to being the underdog and battling against the odds stacked against him (Harris, Jaime C. ). Walter knew the end was coming, but he still spent the last few months fighting cancer like a crusader (Official Walter Payton Foundation). Even though Walter couldn't get an organ transplant he still tried to help other who needed them, he helped people everywhere who needed transplants (Payton, Walter 223).

The number of organ donors began to rise because of the publicity Walter was willing to give it. Walter couldn't battle cancer forever and died at home on November 1, 1999. Like the title of his biography Walter didn't die easy. Walter Payton was an extremely hard worker. Walter worked hard and long to be one of the greatest football players of all time. Walter worked hard in his childhood so he would have a good life later on.

Walter was constantly challenging himself and pushing himself to be the best he could be and then some. Walter Payton gave everything he did everything he had from playing football to fighting cancer.