Walter Payton Book Describes Life, Career, Dark Side

A book about the life of late football player Walter Payton will discuss his life, sports career, and the athlete's dark side.

Sweetness: The Enigmatic Life of Walter Payton will be released on Oct. 4. It is authored by famed sports writer Jeff Pearlman.

On his Web site, Pearlman commented on an earlier biography of Payton and how it lacked details on the football player's troubled life.

One walks away from 'Never Die Easy' thinking Payton's life was one of flowers and candy; that he was a man of few doubts; of unwavering positivity; of nonstop strength from birth to death, Pearlman wrote on his Web site. Which, if you've lived more than three weeks on earth, you know to be an impossibility.

An excerpt from Pearlman's book will be published in Sports Illustrated on Oct. 3, ESPN reported.

The book will explore the dark side and suicidal nature of the football player who was nicknamed Sweetness.

Walter would call me all the time saying he was about to kill himself, he was tired, Payton's agent Bud Holmes said, SI.com reported. He was angry. Nobody loved him. He wanted to be dead.

Payton was born in 1954 in Columbia, Mississippi. He graduated from Jackson State University, where he played football.

He was fourth overall in the first round of the 1975 NFL Draft. He was drafted by the Chicago Bears and played with them for 13 seasons.

Payton was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1993 and into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1996.

He died in 1999 at the age of 45 of a rare liver disease and bile duct cancer, ESPN reported.