His legacy is towering. Walter Payton—the man they calledSweetness, for the way he ran—remains the most prolific runningback in the history of the National Football League, the star ofthe Chicago Bears' only Super Bowl Championship, eleven times votedthe most popular sports figure in Chicago's history. Off the field,he was a devoted father whose charitable foundation benefited tensof thousands of children each year, and who—faced with terminalliver disease—refused to use his celebrity to gain a preferentialposition for organ donation. Walter Payton was not just a footballhero; he was America's hero.