Who: Walter Payton’s wife
Worthwhile links:
http://www.payton34.com/connie.asp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cWFFEg84u0
http://www.oprah.com/oprahradio/Connie-Payton
Breakdown: Walter was introduced to Connie during his junior year at Jackson State. His coach, Bob Hill, saw his star halfback moping over love lost, and decided he had to meet the niece of his girlfriend. Was it love at first sight? Hardly. Connie took one look at Walter’s photograph and groused to Hill, “I hope it’s not that one.”
The two dated for several years, and married after Walter’s rookie season in Chicago. Although they were wed until Walter’s death in 1999, the two were separated for much of the final decade. When it came time for Walter to choose an executor of his estate, Connie wasn’t even considered.
Pearlman’s take: Being married to Walter Payton could not have been easy. He was a moody, distracted man who could be warm and gregarious one moment then—SNAP!—dark and sullen the next. He was not a faithful husband, and his parenting was, at best, spotty. A good number of Walter’s closest confidants resent Connie—especially her changing the Walter Payton Foundation to the Walter and Connie Payton Foundation after his passing. They feel as if she’s taken advantage of his name, even though they were not a couple.
Fair argument? Probably.
From Sweetness: Five months later, when he prepared to return to Chicago for summer training camp, Payton turned grumpy and dark. He dreaded going back. He asked Connie about moving with him to the Windy City— a proposition she found most unappealing. “If you want me to be there with you,” she said, “then we need to be together the right way.”
“So let me get this straight,” he said. “If I don’t marry you, you really aren’t going to come to Chicago?”
Connie nodded.
A day later Walter presented Connie with a ring and assured her he would take care of the wedding arrangements. He called a pastor at Mount Cathray Baptist Church in Jackson and roped in two friends to serve as witnesses. Just how meaningful was July 7, 1976, the day they were to be wed? Connie forgot all about it. “I was out at the mall wandering around with some friends,” she wrote. “I came home that evening with some shopping bags, only to find him sitting in my living room, pouting.” With a furrowed brow, Walter glanced toward his future wife. “How dare you forget this day,” he said. “First, you’re going to make me marry you, and then you forget the day?”
“No, I’m ready,” Connie said. “Let’s go now.”
The two headed for the church. No family members were invited or, for that matter, informed. The service was unremarkable. Afterward, Connie called her mother to explain. “You and Daddy work so hard every day, and to even give me the wedding you would feel I wanted would have been a financial burden,” she said. “I don’t want you to feel like this is something you have to do for me.”
Oh, one more thing. Their daughter was dropping out of college to move to Chicago.