Resolved:

That with the disquieting revelations about the late former Bears Hall-of-Fame running back Walter Payton in a new biography, it is no longer appropriate — if it ever was appropriate — for an elite Chicago college preparatory high school to be named for him.

In the wake of Payton’s death in November, 1999, Tribune sports columnist Bernie Lincicome wrote:

All the suggestions on how to make Payton’s name and legacy endure are as wonderful as they are insufficient. …The echo of a life so large and so inclusive cannot be allowed to fade too fast. …Emulating Payton’s work ethic, his selflessness, his modesty, his sacrifice–these are all worth doing. To be Paytonesque is not a costume change, it is an attitude adjustment.

A few weeks later, according to news stories, Chicago Schools CEO Paul Vallas announced the decision to name the shiny new selective-enrollment high school in Payton’s honor because he led an “exemplary life” and had a certain work ethic”

Even still or perhaps accordingly, it seemed like a hasty, over-sentimental decision; that disregarded more fitting, more inspiring, more academically oriented local role models for the honor.

Pro or con?