Running back Walter Payton, nicknamed "Sweetness" during his college football days, became the NFL's all-time leader in rushing and all-purpose yards, capturing the hearts of fans in his adopted Chicago. Drawing on interviews with over seven hundred sources, acclaimed sportswriter Jeff Pearlman has crafted the first definitive biography of Payton. Sweetness at last brings fans a 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. This is a stirring tribute to a singular icon and the lasting legacy he made.