Peyton Manning

Biography

Peyton Williams Manning was born on March 24, 1976, in New Orleans, Louisiana. He was the second of Archie and Olivia Manning’s three sons. Cooper, the oldest, arrived in 1974. Eli came into the world two years after Peyton. All three boys looked like athletes from the time they could crawl. At 12-plus pounds at birth, Peyton appeared he might be headed for a career as an offensive lineman.

The size of the Manning kids wasn’t surprising given their genes. Archie was one of the most celebrated athletes in the history of the South. A legend at the University of Mississippi, he played quarterback for the Rebels from 1968 to 1970, and was twice voted an All-American. He then became the top pick of the New Orleans Saints, embarking on a star-crossed 14-year NFL career that also saw him suit up for the Houston Oilers and Minnesota Vikings. A hard-hitting shortstop in his youth, Archie could have chosen professional baseball as a career path, having been drafted by the Atlanta Braves after graduating from Drew High School—and later by the Kansas City Royals and Chicago White Sox.

Olivia was a perfect match for Archie, who was treated like royalty wherever he went in the South. She had been named Homecoming Queen at Ole Miss in 1970.

Peyton loved football. By his third birthday, he was tossing the pigskin with Cooper. They had plenty of room to practice in the yard of the family’s huge home—built in 1853—in the historic Garden District of New Orleans. Eli eventually joined his brothers in their games.

For Peyton, childhood was almost perfect. He idolized his father, and dreamed of being a star college quarterback. The Mannings were a close-knit bunch. Trips across the state to visit Grandma Manning in Drew, or to see Olivia’s parents in the town of Philadelphia, were always eagerly anticipated.

The only bad memories came when the reality of professional athletics reared its ugly head. The Saints were the laughingstock of the NFL, and despite some great individual seasons, Peyton’s dad often bore the brunt of the fans’ ire. Then in 1982, Archie was traded to the Oilers. He and Olivia decided the family would stay in New Orleans. Peyton and brothers missed their dad terribly.

Archie bounced between the Oilers and Vikings the next four years. In 1984, his last season in the NFL, Olivia and the boys followed him to Minneapolis. Peyton hoped to get his first taste of organized football there, but he was too young for the fifth-grade squad.

The Mannings returned to New Orleans the following year, and Peyton looked forward to playing football for Isidore Newman School, one of Louisiana’s top private schools. There was only one problem: Newman cancelled its sixth-grade program. Finally, in 1988, Peyton got his chance to pull on the pads for the first time. When asked to list his favorite positions, he wrote down “quarterback” and “defensive back.”

Years of watching from the sidelines had given Peyton lots of time to brush up on his football knowledge. A trivia buff, he was absolutely crazy about the college game. For him, nothing compared to the SEC. He often listened to audio tapes of his dad’s college games, and quizzed his little brother on the conference’s storied past. When Eli couldn’t answer a question, he usually received a pounding.