How ex-NFL player Eddie Payton became hall of fame college golf coach

Former Jackson State football player Eddie Payton had the nerves of a jewel thief. For five years, from 1977-82, he made his living as an NFL kickoff returner and punt returner with the help of another former JSU Tiger, Lem Barney.

One day after a training camp practice with the Detroit Lions, Barney told Payton that the only way he would make the team was on special teams. Barney taught him how to judge the ball off the kicker’s foot.

On Dec. 17, 1977, Payton returned a kickoff and a punt for a touchdown for the Lions in a game against the Minnesota Vikings. Being a return man taught Payton that patience and purpose would prepare him for his second career as golf coach at Jackson State — and his hall of fame moment.

Payton was inducted into the Black College Golf Coaches Hall of Fame on Sept. 23, the cap on an incredible career that saw him turn the JSU men’s and women’s golf programs into an HBCU power from 1986 to 2016.

In 1994, he helped start the women’s golf team, which won 14 Southwestern Athletic Conference titles. After taking the 2001 SWAC Championship, the Lady Tigers received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, becoming the first women’s golf program from an HBCU school to accomplish the feat.

Payton is a 21-time SWAC Coach of the Year and eight times was named National Minority Coach of the Year. Payton’s men’s team won 25 SWAC Championships, including 20 straight. The Tigers made NCAA history in 1996 when they became the first HBCU to qualify for an NCAA golf regional.

“It was the greatest experience of these kids’ life,” Payton told the Clarion Ledger. “To compete against the best players in the nation and against some of the top schools, they realized the golf ball does not see any color. The ball is white, and it does not know what color the person is that hits it, as long as it is hit well.”

Payton’s path to a golf hall of fame came after playing in the NFL for the Lions, Cleveland Browns, Kansas City Chiefs and Minnesota Vikings. He also played in the Canadian Football League for a year.

Payton explained his rise in golf coaching during a recent question-and-answer-style interview with the Clarion Ledger:

Clarion Ledger: How did you become the golf coach at Jackson State?

Eddie Payton: My entire family was at JSU at the same time. There came a time when I wanted to give back to repay what the university had done for my family, and they needed a golf coach. I went into Dr. Walter Reed’s office…