Peyton Manning

Peyton Manning

The World's Greatest Quarterback

By Carlos Villafuerte

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 five years after Peyton. Like his dad, Peyton loved football. By his third birthday, he was tossing the pigskin with Cooper. For Peyton, childhood was perfect. He idolized his father and dreamed of being a star college quarterback. The Saints were the laughingstock of the NFL, and despite some great individual seasons. In 1982, after he was traded to the Oilers, Archie talked it over with Olivia and they 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 chance at 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 play for the first time. When asked to list his favorite positions, he wrote down "quarterback" and "defensive back." Peyton won the starting quarterback job at Newman as a sophomore 1991. Cooper, who had accepted a scholarship to Ole Miss, had been diagnosed with a rare disease called spinal stenosis. Doctors said he would never play football again. Peyton was devastated. He wrote a letter to his brother telling him just how he felt.

On January 25, 1994, he announced he was headed to Tennessee. People throughout Mississippi were shocked. Peyton apologized more than once during his press conference. Peyton faced a big decision in the winter of 1997. A certain first-round pick in the upcoming NFL Draft, he had the option of going pro. Though most told him to skip his final college season, he chose to return to the Vols.

Peyton was the talk of the 1998 NFL draft. The Indianapolis Colts and San Diego Chargers owned selections #1 and #2, and both teams needed a quarterback. Indy GM Bill Polian made the call, settling on Peyton over Ryan Leaf. Head coach Jim Mora wasted no time turning the offense over to his rookie. Peyton took the reigns in minicamp and impressed the Indy staff by making only one bad throw in three days. Peyton finally agreed on a lucrative six-year deal, the richest in NFL rookie history. The bright spot was the chemistry that Peyton developed with Harrison. Both were workout freaks. They spent long hours on the practice field together, and