The stadium where Walter Payton gained the bulk of his 16,726 yards is the place where thousands of his fans will gather to celebrate his life.The Bears and city of Chicago will host "Walter Payton Day" between noon and 1:30 p.m. Saturday at Soldier Field. While that event will be open to the public, an invitation-only service for Sweetness' family and friends will take place the day before at a South Barrington church.
Besides those services, all NFL games this weekend will include a moment of silence before kick-off, said Paul Tagliabue, the league's commissioner. Also, the Bears are planning a uniform tribute to their Hall of Fame running back, who died Monday of bile duct cancer at age 45. It likely will be a patch on the team's jerseys, but the design still is being discussed, said Scott Hagel, the team's assistant public relations director.
"We know it will be ready for the Green Bay game this weekend," he said.
The memorial announcements came as fans from as far away as Norway posted about 1,000 messages on the Bears' web site, including prayers and condolences to Payton's family. An operator at Payton's Hoffman Estates business office described the number of calls and e-mails as "unimaginable."
Transportation, parking and police plans for Saturday's Payton celebration were not ready as of Tuesday night, city officials said. However, Chicago Transit Authority spokeswoman Maria Toscano expects extra public transportation to be available to get fans to Soldier Field. "I can't forsee us not doing something," she said.
The Chicago Park District lowered its Bears and No. 34 flags at Soldier Field to half-staff. A special Bears history exhibit at the Field Museum, which normally draws 100 people each day, drew 300 before noon.
Fans continued to light up the switchboards at sports radio stations Monday as NFL players reminisced about Payton, who holds 28 Bears and seven NFL records. Many thought he would beat the rare liver disease, primary sclerosing cholangitis, that struck him, but the cancer stemming from the disease proved too much.
"The lines are full, and it's all about Walter," said Ron Gleason, director of sports and programming at WSCR-1160 AM, which broadcast its weekly "Walter Payton Show" at Carlucci Restaurant in Rosemont commercial-free. The station's overall call volume, which normally subsides at night, held steady until 4 a.m., Gleason said.
Secretary of State Jesse White seized the day to again highlight the awareness Payton brought to organ donation. The week Payton announced he had a rare liver disease in February, calls to the state's organ donor hotline went from 36 to 600. The hotline received about 30 calls Tuesday.
Even though Payton was too sick to qualify for a transplant and his organs cannot be donated because he had cancer, White is hoping his death will spark the minority community to greater organ donor participation. Forty-two percent of people who renew their drivers' licenses sign up to be donors. Among Hispanics and blacks, however, that percentage is cut in half.
The stories surfacing about Payton Tuesday not only focused on his greatness as an athlete, but as a person.
"Walter Payton was one of those athletes that captured the whole city, but more than that, he captured a whole generation of sports fans," said Tagliabue, speaking after NFL meetings at Rosemont's Hyatt-O'Hare Hotel. "He kind of symbolized the athlete who wouldn't take defeat."
"He's a standard of excellence by which all others will be judged in the future," said Al Davis, owner of the Oakland Raiders. "He could run, catch, was a tenacious blocker, and he could catch the ball deep."
Payton's reputation as practical joker became evident during WSCR's broadcast from Carlucci, as his teammates detailed his setting off fireworks in their training-camp dorms. He also had a penchant for "goosing" them.
Payton also was a character in the film room, reveling not so much in the length of his runs, but the punishment he rendered on those attempting to tackle him.
The serious side of Payton, teammate Keith Van Horne said, came when games were on the line.
"When he would say something, everybody listened," Van Horne recalled. "You'd look at him run over six guys and figure 'if he can take care of six guys, I can take care of at least one."
Daily Herald staff writers Pat Karlak and Timothy S. Rooney contributed to this report.
