Edward Charles Payton Jr. (born August 3, 1951) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player who was a

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offense ...

and

kick returner A return specialist or kick returner is a player on the special teams unit of a gridiron football team who specializes in returning punts and kickoffs. There are few players who are exclusively return specialists; most also play another positio ...

for five seasons in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL) from 1977 to 1982 for the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. The Browns compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team is named after ...

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. The team plays their home game ...

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) West division. Established in 1959 ...

and

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. The Vikings compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. Founded in 1960 as ...

. He also played in the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division (CFL), East Division and f ...

. He is the older brother of the late

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...

player

Walter Payton Walter Jerry Payton (July 25, 1953Although most sources at the time of his death gave Payton's birth year as 1954, reliable sources subsequently state he was born in 1953. – November 1, 1999) was an American professional American football, ...

, the uncle of Brittney Payton and the uncle of the current

WGN-TV WGN-TV (channel 9) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, serving as the local outlet for The CW. It is owned and operated by the network's majority owner, Nexstar Media Group, and is sister station, sister to the company ...

sports anchor Jarrett Payton. Payton played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the Jackson State Tigers and signed undrafted by the Browns. Payton was primarily used as a kick and punt returner. He led the NFL with 53 kickoffs for 1184 yards in 1980. Payton ran back two kickoffs and one punt return for

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

s in his career, two in the same game. On December 17, 1977, Payton ran a kick return and a punt return for a touchdown for the Lions in a game against the Vikings. Eddie Payton is the former head

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

coach at Jackson State,Outside the Lines: 1... And Only
ESPN, Retrieved on 2006-12-03. coaching both the men's and women's teams. From 1986 – 2016, Payton led the Jackson State Golf program to 37 Southwestern Athletic Conference championships. His men's team won 23 conference titles, 8 National Minority championships, and was the first HBCU to make the NCAA Men's National Golf Championships in 1995. He helped start the women's golf program in 1994. From there, he led the women's team to 14 SWAC titles and also the first HBCU NCAA appearance for women in 1999.

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* 1951 births Living people American football running backs American football return specialists Cleveland Browns players Detroit Lions players Kansas City Chiefs players Minnesota Vikings players Jackson State Tigers football players Sportspeople from Columbia, Mississippi 20th-century American sportsmen {{runningback-1950s-stub