Peyton Manning - More Than an Icon to This Tennessee Boy
I remember the first time I saw Peyton Manning. It was a pleasant fall morning in 1993, my first sophomore year on the University of Tennessee campus. I had just finished my first class of the morning and was walking from Circle Park to the Claxton Education building on Volunteer Boulevard when I spotted him.
Everyone knew who he was - the highly recruited prize of the 1993 football class. He was Archie Manning’s son and heir apparent to Jerry Colquitt. Yet, there he was playing the part of the happy-go-lucky freshman - white tennis shoes indicative of every Tennessee freshman.
No one was around me as I walked quietly to class. I looked up and there he was ten yards away. No one was around him. He looked at me and said, “Hey, What’s up?”
I nodded and passed the usual, “Not much,” and kept walking, but there was more in that simple exchange than you might realize. I had figured the guy would be a stuck-up jock; unwilling to speak with the common man, like most of his football brethren, but I was wrong. I could tell that he was just a down-to-earth, good guy in that brief greeting. I smiled, laughing on the inside that the freshman QB had just sided up to me, if only for two seconds. I didn't know at that moment, but I had just become a Peyton Manning fan for life.
Peyton Manning is more than a sports icon to me. He’s an integral part of my college experience. If you aren’t from the South, it’s hard to explain the importance and value of SEC football. You see the numbers, you watch on TV, but I was there on campus, living it each and every day while Peyton secured his spot in Tennessee football history. Peyton didn’t just win, we won. We were winners and we loved it.
I was taking a Broadcasting exam the day Peyton announced he would return for his senior year. This was before smart phones so all 200 of us in class were in radio silence. During the exam, the professor simply wrote “He’s staying” on the chalk board at the head of the class. Everyone in class began clapping. We clapped for two minutes!
Everyone in Knoxville knew Peyton was special. We didn’t need a sports prognosticator to tell us that. He had elevated an already-high football program to elite status. No one in Knoxville believes Peyton lost the Heisman Trophy to Charles Woodson his senior year. We believe that Peyton was a casualty of his own success - the race was so boring that ESPN turned it into something it shouldn’t have been. No Tennessee football player had ever won the Heisman Trophy. Johnny Majors had been robbed by Paul Hornung, the only player ever to win the Heisman from a losing team (2-8 Notre Dame). Heath Shuler and Hank Lauricella had both finished runner-up, so this was our chance!
Woodson won the award, along with a part of the national title that year at Michigan. My attitude about the Heisman Trophy, as well as most Tennesseans, changed that fateful December 1997 day. From then on the Heisman Trophy would be a sham - something I would never care about. Peyton had been robbed!
Peyton’s pro career has been surpassed by few. He’s an icon - bigger than the game itself - and I’ve cheered him every step of the way, even though I’m a die-hard Dolphins fan, and I never liked the Colts until the day NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue announced, “With the first pick of the 1998 NFL Draft, the Indianapolis Colts select Peyton Manning.”
Peyton’s success on the football field has been a vicarious extension of me. Every Sunday for the past thirteen years, when Peyton won, I won. I was barely a starting player on the high school team, but for these years I have relived my fleeting success through Peyton’s accomplishments.
I had childhood heroes like Dan Marino and Rickey Henderson, but I’m not a child any more. As silly as it may be to put a sports athlete on a pedestal, Peyton Manning is my hero. Dan and Rickey never represented who I am or where I am from.
I’m not upset that Peyton is leaving Indianapolis. I don't like that he won't complete his career with one team, but I'm not a Colts fan. I'm a Manning fan. Wherever he goes, so will my loyalty go, if only for a few more years. My only hope, my only prayer to the football gods is PLEASE LET HIM SIGN WITH MY DOLPHINS!
Everyone knew who he was - the highly recruited prize of the 1993 football class. He was Archie Manning’s son and heir apparent to Jerry Colquitt. Yet, there he was playing the part of the happy-go-lucky freshman - white tennis shoes indicative of every Tennessee freshman.
No one was around me as I walked quietly to class. I looked up and there he was ten yards away. No one was around him. He looked at me and said, “Hey, What’s up?”
I nodded and passed the usual, “Not much,” and kept walking, but there was more in that simple exchange than you might realize. I had figured the guy would be a stuck-up jock; unwilling to speak with the common man, like most of his football brethren, but I was wrong. I could tell that he was just a down-to-earth, good guy in that brief greeting. I smiled, laughing on the inside that the freshman QB had just sided up to me, if only for two seconds. I didn't know at that moment, but I had just become a Peyton Manning fan for life.
Peyton Manning is more than a sports icon to me. He’s an integral part of my college experience. If you aren’t from the South, it’s hard to explain the importance and value of SEC football. You see the numbers, you watch on TV, but I was there on campus, living it each and every day while Peyton secured his spot in Tennessee football history. Peyton didn’t just win, we won. We were winners and we loved it.
I was taking a Broadcasting exam the day Peyton announced he would return for his senior year. This was before smart phones so all 200 of us in class were in radio silence. During the exam, the professor simply wrote “He’s staying” on the chalk board at the head of the class. Everyone in class began clapping. We clapped for two minutes!
Everyone in Knoxville knew Peyton was special. We didn’t need a sports prognosticator to tell us that. He had elevated an already-high football program to elite status. No one in Knoxville believes Peyton lost the Heisman Trophy to Charles Woodson his senior year. We believe that Peyton was a casualty of his own success - the race was so boring that ESPN turned it into something it shouldn’t have been. No Tennessee football player had ever won the Heisman Trophy. Johnny Majors had been robbed by Paul Hornung, the only player ever to win the Heisman from a losing team (2-8 Notre Dame). Heath Shuler and Hank Lauricella had both finished runner-up, so this was our chance!
Woodson won the award, along with a part of the national title that year at Michigan. My attitude about the Heisman Trophy, as well as most Tennesseans, changed that fateful December 1997 day. From then on the Heisman Trophy would be a sham - something I would never care about. Peyton had been robbed!
Peyton’s pro career has been surpassed by few. He’s an icon - bigger than the game itself - and I’ve cheered him every step of the way, even though I’m a die-hard Dolphins fan, and I never liked the Colts until the day NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue announced, “With the first pick of the 1998 NFL Draft, the Indianapolis Colts select Peyton Manning.”
Peyton’s success on the football field has been a vicarious extension of me. Every Sunday for the past thirteen years, when Peyton won, I won. I was barely a starting player on the high school team, but for these years I have relived my fleeting success through Peyton’s accomplishments.
I had childhood heroes like Dan Marino and Rickey Henderson, but I’m not a child any more. As silly as it may be to put a sports athlete on a pedestal, Peyton Manning is my hero. Dan and Rickey never represented who I am or where I am from.
I’m not upset that Peyton is leaving Indianapolis. I don't like that he won't complete his career with one team, but I'm not a Colts fan. I'm a Manning fan. Wherever he goes, so will my loyalty go, if only for a few more years. My only hope, my only prayer to the football gods is PLEASE LET HIM SIGN WITH MY DOLPHINS!