Her father ran for 22 years on Soldier Field. Her brother carried the ball for the Tennessee Titans and two professional football teams overseas. Now, another Payton has entered the sports arena––this time carrying a microphone instead of a fo
Her father ran for 22 years on Soldier Field. Her brother carried the ball for the Tennessee Titans and two professional football teams overseas.
Now, another Payton has entered the sports arena––this time carrying a microphone instead of a football.
Brittney Payton, daughter of Chicago Bears Hall of Famer, the late Walter Payton, is a sports reporter for the Chicago-based sports Web site mouthpiecesports.com.
But journalism or anything sports related wasn’t her first career choice, she said.
“I went to the University of Arizona and majored in nursing. I quickly figured out that that definitely wasn’t the field I wanted to go into, so I transferred home to DePaul University. It took me a while to figure out what I wanted to go into, then I realized that I love the communications field,” Payton told the Defender.
After her father died nearly 10 years ago from a rare liver disease, the then-teenager often found herself in front of the camera and large audiences with her mother and brother speaking about organ donation.
That “experience” led to her comfortability in front of the camera, and it also reminded Payton of a tidbit of what her high school debate teacher told her.
“He pulled me aside from class one day and said he thought I should go into the communications field because I enjoy talking in front of people. That always stuck with me,” said the recent DePaul graduate.
And when she made the decision to go into communications, her mother and brother wondered “what took so long,” she said.
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