Get 3 months for $0.99 a month + $20 Audible credit

LIMITED TIME OFFER
Sweetness cover art

Sweetness

The Enigmatic Life of Walter Payton

 Preview
Get this deal Try for $0.00
Offer ends December 1, 2025 11:59pm PT.
Join Audible for only $0.99 a month for the first 3 months, and get a bonus $20 credit for Audible.ca. Bonus credit notification will be received via email.
1 audiobook per month of your choice from our unparalleled catalog.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and Originals.
Auto-renews at $14.95/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo + applicable taxes after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Sweetness

Written by: Jeff Pearlman
Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
Get this deal Try for $0.00

$14.95/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime. Offers ends December 1, 2025 11:59pm PT.

$14.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $37.39

Buy Now for $37.39

About this listen

At five feet 10 inches tall, running back Walter Payton was not the largest player in the NFL, but he developed a larger-than-life reputation for his strength, speed, and grit. Nicknamed “Sweetness” during his college football days, he became the NFL’s all-time leader in rushing and all-purpose yards, capturing the hearts of fans in his adopted Chicago.

Drawing from interviews with more than seven hundred sources, acclaimed sportswriter Jeff Pearlman has crafted the first definitive biography of Payton. Sweetness at last brings fans a detailed, scrupulously researched, all-encompassing account of the legend’s rise to greatness. From Payton’s childhood in segregated Mississippi, where he ended a racial war by becoming the star of his integrated high school’s football team, to his college years and his thirteen-year NFL career, Sweetness brims with stories of all-American heroism and covers Payton’s life on and off the field. Set against the backdrop of the tragic illness that cut his life short at just 45 years of age, this is a stirring tribute to a singular icon and the lasting legacy he made.

©2011 Jeff Pearlman (P)2011 Blackstone Audio, Inc. Football (American) History of Sports Sports Heartfelt

What the critics say

"Jeff Pearlman does the work of first-rate biography in his addictively readable Sweetness. He presents Walter Payton in all of his flaws and contradictions yet leaves you in the end with a much deeper appreciation of an uncommon man." (David Maraniss, Pulitzer Prize–winning author)
All stars
Most Relevant
The depth of research conducted to complete this story is staggering. It is a complete look into the life of a superstar athlete, and doesn’t hold back in showing all of his facets.
Some biographies, especially the ones based on those who are deceased, only tell the good side of things. Not the case here. It is an honest story, and leaves the listener to decide on who this man was, and what he means to them.
Highly recommended for fans of number 34, and that era of football.

Extremely in-depth portrait of a human

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.