answersLogoWhite

0

Did Walter Payton have a will?

Updated: 9/27/2023
User Avatar

Wiki User

12y ago

Best Answer

No solid evidence to date,but he did play during an era when steroid use was a rampant and widely used and accepted compound,he did die from a rare liver cancer as well as other notable players from that era(70's-80's) who were known to use and abuse steroids and died at relatively young ages also,but Payton was such an Icon in pro football,that nobody would link him to any abuse without any hard evidence.but if you take that era of sports into account,for anyone not to use them would've put them at a physical disadvantage when compared to the leagues majority of NFL players of all positions who did take them.

Use in the NFLThe use of performance enhancing drugs and anabolic steroids dates back to the late 1960s in the National Football League (NFL). Denver Broncos defensive lineman Lyle Alzado was a more notable early incident on the NFL. In the last years of his life, as he battled against the brain tumor that eventually caused his death at the age of 43, Alzado asserted that his steroid abuse directly led to his fatal illness, but his physician stated it could not possibly be true. According to some reports, Alzado was using natural growth hormone, harvested from human corpses, as opposed to synthetic growth hormones. However, shortly before his death, Alzado recounted his steroid abuse in an article in Sports Illustrated. He said:"I started taking anabolic steroids in 1969 and never stopped. It was addicting, mentally addicting. Now I'm sick, and I'm scared. Ninety percent of the athletes I know are on the stuff. We're not born to be 300 lbs or jump 30ft. But all the time I was taking steroids, I knew they were making me play better. I became very violent on the field and off it. I did things only crazy people do. Once a guy sideswiped my car and I beat the hell out of him. Now look at me. My hair's gone, I wobble when I walk and have to hold on to someone for support, and I have trouble remembering things. My last wish? That no one else ever dies this way."[7]"

Jim Haslett was quoted saying that during the 1980s, half of the players in the league used some type of performance enhancing drug or steroid and all of the defensive lineman used them. One of the players from the Super Bowl winning 1979 Pittsburgh Steelers team confessed to using steroids before these statements, Steve Courson.[8] Courson was another lineman for the Steelers, and admitted to using steroids before his death in 2005. He also blamed a heart condition that he had on steroids. Some of his teammates, such as Jack Ham and Jack Lambert refused to use any kind of performance enhancing drug.[8]

The BALCO scandal also revealed many users of steroids in the NFL. In 2003, the United States Attorney for the Northern District of California, Kevin V. Ryan, began investigating BALCO. U.S. sprint coach Trevor Graham had given an anonymous phone call to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) in June 2003 accusing a number of athletes being involved in doping with a steroid that was not detectable at the time. He also named Victor Conte as the source of the steroid. As evidence, Graham delivered a syringe containing traces of a substance nicknamed The Clear.

Shortly after, Don Catlin, MD, the founder and then-director of the UCLA Olympic Analytical Laboratory and now head of the Los Angeles-based nonprofit Anti-Doping Research, succeeded in developing a testing process for tetrahydrogestrinone (THG). Now able to detect the new substance, he tested 550 existing samples from athletes, of which 20 proved to be positive for THG. Later that year, the Chicago Tribune named Catlin Sportsman of the Year.[9]

A number of players from the Oakland Raiders were implicated in this scandal, including Bill Romanowski, Tyrone Wheatley, Barrett Robbins, Chris Cooper and Dana Stubblefield.[10] Recently, many players have confessed to steroid use. One of these players was former Oakland Raiders player Bill Romanowski. Romanowski confessed on the American news television show 60 Minutes to using steroids for a two year period beginning in 2001.[11] He stated that these were supplied by former NFL player and former head of BALCO Victor Conte, saying:"I took [human growth hormone] for a brief period and ... I definitely didn't receive what I got out of THG."[11]"

A notable recent occurrence happened in 2006. During the season, San Diego Chargers linebacker Shawne Merriman failed a drug test and was suspended for four games when his primary "A" sample and backup "B" sample both tested positive for human growth hormone (HGH).[12] Merriman was named NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2005, with 54 tackles and 10 sacks. He also had a total of five passes defended and two forced fumbles. He was a starting player in the 2005 Pro Bowl, and was a leader on his team in sacks in the 2006 season.[12] The incident led to the passage of a rule that forbids a player who tests positive steroids from being selected to the Pro Bowl in the year in which they tested positive. The rule is commonly referred to as the "Merriman Rule".[13][14] However, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has tried to distance the policy from being associated with the player, stating that Merriman tested clean on 19 of 20 random tests for performance-enhancing drugs since entering the league.[15]

User Avatar

Wiki User

12y ago
This answer is:
User Avatar
More answers
User Avatar

Wiki User

10y ago

Yes , Mr. Walter Payton (July 25, 1954 - November 1, 1999) was a man of color . He was an outstanding man with many accomplisments both on and off the field .

You can read more about this outstanding individual at the related link below .

This answer is:
User Avatar

User Avatar

Wiki User

10y ago

Walter "Sweetness" Payton, the American football player, was married and had two children. I think it's fairly safe to assume he was not gay.

This answer is:
User Avatar

User Avatar

Wiki User

13y ago

Yes, He had two kids Named Brittney Walter Payton and Jerrett Walter Payton.

This answer is:
User Avatar

User Avatar

Wiki User

12y ago

yes he did

This answer is:
User Avatar

Add your answer:

Earn +20 pts
Q: Did Walter Payton have a will?
Write your answer...
Submit
Still have questions?
magnify glass
imp