Sweetness_ The Enigmatic Life of Walter Payton - Jeff Pearlman [75]
Walter Payton didn’t initially know what to think. He trusted Hill, and Hill trusted Holmes. Yet as two big showcases for the nation’s elite college seniors, the East-West Shrine Game and the Senior Bowl, approached, Payton wasn’t certain his best strategy would be to hire a local agent with a limited number of NFL clients. On December 24, he and Brazile flew to California to participate in the East-West Shrine Game at Stanford Stadium. The players spent five days in Palo Alto, practicing, mingling with peers, conducting interviews, meeting with scouts, and being wooed by agents. “The only time I ever saw Walter cry was that Christmas morning,” said Brazile. “Truth is, we both were crying, because it was the first Christmas for either of us without our families. I saw a different side of Walter, and he saw a different side of me.” The East-West flew in players from across the nation. The big names were Steve Bartkowski, the University of California quarterback (widely presumed to be the number one pick in the upcoming draft), and Maryland defensive lineman Randy White. Payton was a curiosity. “People probably wanted to know how he would hang with bigger, tougher, more prominent players,” said Holmes. “Back then Jackson State was discarded, if people even heard of it at all.”
One person well aware of Payton’s potential was Mike Hickey, at the time a scout with the New England Patriots. Hickey had made two trips to Jackson State during the season, and he urged his franchise to find a way to add the running back. “He was a kid who excelled in every category,” said Hickey. “Besides his obvious ability, Walter had a maturity that was well beyond the SWAC or anywhere else. A lot of guys from small schools come up with chips on their shoulders, and it’s not a good thing. But Walter was calm and easygoing, and he got along with everyone. If you didn’t like him as a scout, you had no business being in the profession.”
On one of the days leading up to the East-West game, Hickey was chatting with Payton and Brazile inside their hotel room at the Hyatt. The phone rang every ten minutes or so, one agent after another offering his services. “This phone is killing us,” Brazile said. “It’s so annoying.” The next time it rang, Hickey picked up. Howard Slusher, sports’ most powerful agent, was on the other end—probably the tenth time he’d called in three days. “He thought I was Brazile, so he started giving me the big pitch,” Hickey said. “I cut him off and said, ‘Man, I don’t want you.’ ” Both players laughed, and Payton had an idea. Hickey was a nice guy in his early twenties with a laid-back attitude and significantly deeper NFL ties than Holmes. “Hey Mike,” he said, “would you consider representing us? You seem to understand us, and you get along with us real well.”
Hickey was flattered. He called home later that night, briefly debating the idea with his wife, Kathy. Red Hickey, Mike’s father, had been a well-known NFL player and coach and was now working as a scout with the Dallas Cowboys. That was the life Mike most wanted to emulate—finding players, not negotiating on their behalves. “Plus, I had a wife and two little girls in Foxborough, Massachusetts,” he said, “and I thought I would be cutting off my career if I left the Patriots.”
Payton (as well as Brazile) wound up sticking with Holmes, whose advice to his newest client in the lead-up to the collegiate bowl games was simple: Show that you belong on this level. Prove the doubters wrong.
Playing for an East squad led by legendary Michigan coach Bo Schembechler, Payton rushed for forty-nine yards on sixteen carries, unspectacular numbers that impressed absolutely everybody. Dave Pear, a highly touted defensive lineman from Washington, long recalled trying to tackle the mysterious Division II running back. “Never heard of him,” said Pear, who went on to a six-year NFL career. “Then he hit me and I never forgot him. The guy was an absolute