inspirational book-even if you are not a Bears fan...Walter Payton was the greatest football player of all time but he did wonderful things for children as well-if you want to appreciate a time when football players weren't all about bigger paychecks and loved the game then you will love this book-and cry as well

Never Die Easy is a book about the life of one of the greatest running backs of all time. Walter Payton lived a very important life and he was a truly great person. He grew up in Mississippi and worked his way through college all the way to the Chicago Bears. It was one of my favorite books I have ever read and would recommend it to anyone.

easily my favorite sport biopic to date.

the title embodies not his bout with a life threatening condition, but the way he ran and his philosophy on life. excellent story will bring a tear to your eye. a true gem.

I read this book because my husband is a Bears fan. After reading it, I am too. At least a fan of the '85 Bears.
Walter Payton was a role model, one that most professional athletes need to emulate. A great athlete that was blessed with great character, and a phenomenal moral compass.
The world needs more Walter Payton's.

I chose this book, “Never Die Easy”, because it was an autobiography of my all time favorite NFL football player. I wanted to know more about his whole life before he died on November 1, 1999 after struggling with a rare liver disease, primary sclerosing cholangitis, for several months. I chose this also because football is my favorite sport and the story of his life is nonfictional. To me, Walter Payton was the greatest football player in the history of the NFL based on this book and what people say about him.

As stated above, “Never Die Easy” is a non-fictional and autobiographical book about Walter Payton. This book is organized by the chapters of his life. Many family members, teammates, old friends, and even coaches spoke about how great he was in this book. Also this book was being put together before November 1, 1999, so Walter Payton speaks in it too. This book begins with talking about his professional career as a Chicago Bear then it transfers on to his life growing up and so on and so forth. Walter has won one Super Bowl near the end of his glorious and famous NFL career. He grew up in Columbia, Mississippi. When he first entered high school, he wasn’t even thinking about becoming a professional football player, he participated in band as a freshman and sophomore. When he first started football, he was an automatic star on the field and it never stopped after that. He had talent and the greatest work ethic, that is what made him great as a football player and as a person.

Walter Payton: “I thank God for them [His coaches, parents, and teammates] because without them I wouldn’t have made it. So for all you young people who are out there who have dreams, hopes, desires, it doesn’t matter where you are in the race now, it is where you will end up. Don’t give up because you are not where you want to be. Everything that you want, if you visualize it, you can have it. And I hope that you never lose your vision. I was lucky I didn’t and it worked out.” I picked this section or quote because it inspires me and makes me feel like I can do anything if I put my mind to it.

I also admire the quote by Walter Payton: “I took that [“Never Die Easy”] as a motto for my game and my life. Never die easy. Why run out of bounds and die easy? Make that linebacker pay. Make him earn your death. It carries to all facets of life, and it is something both my dad and Coach Hill taught me.” I favor this quote because it represents me again.

the overall feeling from this book I got was determination and hard work.
i would recommend it to sports fans. the book revolves around football and i think sports fans would find it more appealing. walter payton born and raised in mississippi faces some challenges growing up. he always worked hard for his parents and in school. walter went to a all black school and did not step on the football field until being a junior. walter was the hardest working person everywhere he went. he later dies of a kidney disease. final thoughts on the book it kinda tough me toughness in a way. because i see the things he goes through and how he deals with them and that's something i could take and use in my own life at times when it hectic.

3.5 glorious stars

This is a book for: bears fans, football fans, sports fans, those who need a hero, those who understand the meaning of love and life and loss, and those in need of some inspiration...

RIP 'sweetness'

“Never Die Easy” by Don Yaeger and Walter Payton is a biography and an autobiography about Walter Payton, and the struggles and success of his short life. This book is not part of a series, even though that would be amazing if it was. But anyway, the plot of this book goes something like this, Walter was born in a small community of Columbia City. Walter’s family did not have a whole lot of money, but his parents made sure everything he needed was paid for. His parents made sure when Walter was a teen, he was busy doing jobs around his small neighborhood. By the time Walter was in Middle School he was a superb baseball and football player. He ultimately chose to play and spent more time in football. By High School he was the star of his High School Football team and despite his superb athleticism he only got offers from all black schools around his area like Alcorn State, and Jackson State. He would choose Jackson State and play so great there he got picked by the Chicago Bears in the 1st round of the 1975 NFL Draft. By the time he retired in 1987 he had all sorts of accomplishments any football fan would want to have. He had one Super Bowl Ring (Should have been two), at the time he was the NFL’s all-time leading rusher all the way until 2002 when Emmitt Smith broke Walter’s record. Years after his football career he was diagnosed with a very rare kidney disease that the doctors didn’t know how to cure. He would end up dying at the age of 45. A legend gone too soon. I really did like how this book was written, and the firsthand accounts of his family and his friends. This book showed how real the world can get, and how precious life is. I also liked this book because Walter himself goes through big events that happened in his football career, and just how hard he worked to get to the NFL. I also like this book because it has stories from when he was a child. One example of a slightly hilarious story when he was a kid, he tried to steal some fruit from a tree but was caught. I will let you read it, so I don’t spoil it too much. I did think that this book is kind of sad considering Walter gave his life to football, but in a blink of an eye that career was gone. I will let you go read this book to find out more!

Though it was a very interesting book and very heart warming in parts, it really wasn't an autobiography. Probably because he passed away so quickly, the book is filled with only excerpts from Walter Payton, and the rest of the book is filled with anecdotes by his friends and family. What was frustrating, is that the vast majority of them just wanted to talk about themselves, and not Walter Payton.

Awesome book !, put things into perspective if you will esp. when you see so many sports personalities involved in doping scandals and such these days, a true sportsman, hats off to him and the wonderful life he lived.Got inspired by the book and signed up for organ donation.Definitely a must read in my opinion.

the reason i choose this book is because i love walter payton as a big big bears fan he is my favorite all time chicago bear and one of my favoite player and i just wanted to learn more about his life and learn things that i never knew about him before. this book is a biogarphy of his life they do it as like an interveiw they have walter talking in it and his family and also some of his teammates and coachs which i think is pretty cool. they talk about mostly chicago because thats where walter has lived for a while he grew up in chicago which is pretty cool because he ends up playing for chicago.walter was a guy that loved the game of football lived and breathed it and when he retired he missed it alot he came at a point in his life where he wasnt to happy all time because he wasnt on the feild it took him a while to get over that stage in his life and what one thing i never really known was he raced a nascar for a couple of years intill he had a really bad accident after that he jut owned one for a while and hired a driver to drive it for him. they also talked to mike dikta in there and he was asked about the super bowl and why didnt he let walter score a tochdown and ditka said that thats one of the number one things he regrets ever he said he never really thought about it intill someone told him then he was shocked and he felt bad the reason why he said he never thought about it is because he didnt think it was a big deal well to payton it was he didnt like it that he never got to score he didnt like it that the only chance he got to go and win the championship he does not get to help but points on the board and help his team. i liked this book alot it was really intersting to me i learned alot about it and im really glad i read it.

tttttttLorin Helfenstein
tttttttt10-16-2013
ttttttttPeriod 4
tt Never Die Easy
The book Never Die Easy is an autobiography about Walter Peyton told by Walter Peyton, family, friends, and others that were close to him. I really enjoyed the style of this book. The book was told from different perspectives, which I found to be easy to read and it gives you more than just perspective of a story. The beginning of the book talks about Walter’s death. The next part of the book is about Walter growing up, his high school career, and his college career. The third part of the book is about his NFL career, winning the Super Bowl, and breaking Jim Brown’s all-time leading rusher record. This is probably my favorite part in the book; it has so many great stories in it. After his NFL career is a section all about Walter’s business career. Surprisingly, this was a very interesting chapter to me. For example, how he almost became the first minority to own a NFL team. What caused this dream of his to fall just short was his business partners argued and lawsuits were threatened. Another interesting fact about Peyton in this section was that he also was a professional driver; he participated in many races and even won a few of them. Unfortunately for Walter, he got in an extremely bad crash in which his car flipped over a fence, spilled gasoline, and caught on fire. Miraculously, Walter was not severally injured, but this caused him to quit racing. The next section in the book is about Walter getting sick and eventually dying, this is a very emotional part in the book and is very meaningful. You never would have thought someone like “Sweetness” could ever get so weak and eventually die, Walter even survived much passed what the doctors said he would. He never gave up, just like when he was running the ball in the NFL. This is an extremely well written book and is very inspirational. You don’t even have to like football to enjoy this book, so if you have not yet read this book, I highly recommend it.