Stories behind ascension of Hall of Fame QB Peyton Manning – Los Angeles Times

CANTON, Ohio

Peyton Manning will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Sunday, the capstone of a spectacular career in which he directed both the Indianapolis Colts and Denver Broncos to Super Bowl victories.

In the audience will be legions of fans, along with friends and former teammates. Some grew up with him in New Orleans, and lined up with him on the sports fields at Isidore Newman School, which is pre-K through 12th grade.

The Los Angeles Times gathered five of his former Newman teammates for a video conference to reminisce about the gangly, plodding, pranking kid who rounded into one of the best quarterbacks in NFL history.

On the call were Manning friends Baldwin Montgomery, Justin Reyna, Thad Teaford, Mike Keck and Nate Stibbs.

I really value those friendships, and a number of others who I grew up playing Little League baseball with or went to school with at Newman, Manning said. Im proud that Ive been able to maintain those friendships for such a long time. They give me a hard time because they basically had an annual trip to see me play once a year either to Knoxville, for a Tennessee game, Indianapolis for a Colts game, or in Denver.

When I retired they accused me of kind of ruining our annual trip, that I was selfish about retiring and screwing everything up. I took the heat for that.

Getting together wasnt easy during the pandemic, but Manning did gather his friends to take in a college game at Tennessee.

Watched the game, sat in the stands, and had a good get-together. Have to be a little more creative and finding what to do on our annual trip. Football made it easy.

Among the memories:

Even when he was a kid, Mannings memory was something to behold. He could recall the smallest of details, and not just sports-related ones. Sometimes it was music.

Back in those Little League days, sometimes youd be going to play some game an hour or two away, Reyna said. Peyton was with us one time, and my parents put some Motown on the radio. Were probably 11 or 12. Hes sitting back there naming the songs and who sings them. My parents were looking around like, Who knows these songs as a 10-, 11- or 12-year-old?

Manning still has that curiosity about his old classmates.

He loves nostalgia, the childhood memories, Montgomery said. Every five years you have your high school reunion, and nobodys more interested in what our classmates are up to or getting an email chain going: Where are you? Whos going to be there? How is so-and-so doing? Theres this keen interest in looking back.

Peyton Manning helped bring another Super Bowl trophy to Denver.

(Marcio Jose Sanchez / Associated Press)

Not surprisingly, football factoids were of particular interest. There, he was a walking Wikipedia.

He knew every single player his dad played with, Teaford said. He knew every single play. He would listen to the radio broadcast and he would tell you exactly what the next play was going to be, who the receiver was that caught every touchdown, where they were from, what their brothers name was. He could tell you stories about people hed never even met.

The light switch didnt just go off when he started playing quarterback at Newman or got to Tennessee or got to Indianapolis. The light switch was on from the second he was born.

Did you ever watch Homeland or The Wire, where crime solvers would construct a wall of photographs or thoughts tenuously connected by pieces of string, a crazy visual aid untangling some type of convoluted conspiracy?

Basically, that was Mannings bedroom.

Back in 1993, we didnt have computers in class, nobody had iPhones, Stibbs said. So whenever he had an idea, he would write it down on a little yellow sticky note.

Tennessee quarterback Peyton Manning launches a pass during a game against Kentucky on Nov. 22, 1997.

(Ed Reinke / Associated Press)

Youd go to his room at his house and hed have 250 sticky notes all over his wall, just on little ideas that flashed into his mind that he didnt want to forget about. So he kept a note and a pen in his pocket and hed write it down. I always thought that was pretty incredible at that age to have that attention to detail.

It could have been a homework assignment, something that popped into his mind. Something about watching game film or practice or preparation. It was all over the board.

Sometimes, Peyton was too smart for his own good or at least he thought he was.

He was on a bitty basketball team when he was in grade school, and a teammates dad was the coach. The guy was a lawyer who lived in the Mannings neighborhood, and though he didnt know a lot about coaching, he was focused on the kids having fun.

That didnt sit well with young Peyton, not after the team lost a game.

The coach tried to give the team a pep talk in the wake of defeat, sort of: Well, we didnt play our best, but well get em next time.

Peyton stood and countered with: No, the reason we lost is you dont know what youre doing as a coach.

Manning still cringes at the memory.

I was dead wrong, he said.

Whats more, young Peyton was in trouble with his own father, Archie.

My dad couldnt hear what I was saying, Manning said. He just saw me pointing my finger at the coach, and he could tell that I was out of line. Made me go over to the coachs house that night and apologize. I remember I was crying. I was bawling and my dad was saying, Im not going to let you play next week.

The coach was very nice, accepted my apology and said, No, I want you to play. It was a good learning lesson for me of whats right and whats wrong, being coachable and keeping your mouth shut. That was the most valuable lesson in that. My dad straightened me out real quick.

When it came to high school coaches in Louisiana, Billy Fitzgerald was larger than life. He was the head coach of two sports at Newman High for a combined 60 years, with his teams winning five state titles in basketball and two in baseball.

The 6-foot-5 Coach Fitz was a commanding presence whose decisions from the sideline or dugout were seldom questioned.

Then along came Manning.

Peyton, left, and Eli Manning visit Newman School in New Orleans, their alma mater, in 2015.

(Jonathan Bachman / Associated Press)

Peyton was a pretty intense, competitive personality as well, Keck said. I always thought to myself, man, when coach Fitz is upset you just kind of nod your head and, How soon can we move on and get out of here? Peyton, he would butt heads with him. He would go after him, they would get into it with each other. They were very competitive.

Those who played basketball probably noticed the most tension between those two. It was all healthy. It was all in the pursuit of excellence. But I remember they would get into it, and I was like, man, hes the guy who makes me run wind sprints. Im not going to fight with that guy. I just tried to get out of there as quickly as I could. I didnt have the guts to have words and decide I had something to say back to him.

Then there was the time Manning and his Newman baseball teammates were on the road for a tournament and stayed in a motel the night before their semifinal game. Fitzgerald reminded them to grab towels because theyd be showering before their five-hour bus ride home.

When Manning got off the bus to get a towel, Stibbs asked him to grab him one too. Prankster Peyton returned with a towel for himself and a tiny washcloth for his pal.

Flanked by coach Tony Dungy, Colts quarterback Peyton Manning celebrates his first Super Bowl victory.

(Chris OMeara / Associated Press)

That was fine and funny until Newman blew a big lead and lost a game it shouldnt have lost. Fitzgerald was fuming. The disappointed team, sheepish and silent, hit the showers, and Peytons friend brought his washcloth, figuring hed quietly exchange it for the full-sized towel of some unlucky freshman.

The towel swap happened, but the guy who wound up with the terrycloth postage stamp was the hotheaded coach Fitz, who emerged from the showers naked, soaked and steaming mad. He demanded to know who had left him with a washcloth.

I remember looking over at Peyton sitting in the corner, and he was just hunkered down, Stibbs said. He wouldnt look at anybody. And I remember thinking, You almost got us killed because of your little prank. We still tell that story every time we get together once a year. Its etched into all of our memories.

Mannings defense can be summed up in three words: not my fault.

That was on Stibbs, he said. I was simply pulling a prank on my friend. It should not have gotten to the head coach. So thats all on Stibbs. Im not taking the heat for that one.

Manning was no stranger to mischief.

When we werent water-ballooning cars at Thads house as teenagers, we did a lot of prank calling, Montgomery said. This was prior to Caller ID when you could actually get away with calling someone and acting as if you were someone else.

It was always better to prank call a parent, because they were nave and gullible and easier to go through with it, versus a peer who was going to recognize your voice.

Some of the most memorable gags involved Manning posing as a reporter for a publication that specialized in rating high school football players for fans and college recruiters.

He had this idea that we would call some players dads of one of our rival teams and act as if we were of Blue Chip magazine inquiring about their son, Montgomery said. So Peyton would get on the phone and call someones dad, an acquaintance, and act as if he was someone inquiring about their son.

Hey, I hear your sons a rising senior and a football player, can you tell me a little bit about him? These dads just took it hook, line and sinker. Everybody wants their son to be the next great athlete. So [the dad would say], Oh, yeah, he plays both ways, linebacker, running back. Runs well. Works out in the weight room.

We would just pry and ask the most ridiculous questions and get into, What does he power clean? Does he wear a neck roll? Does he wear a Breathe Right? Just see how far we could go with it. We got some good laughs out of it.

It worked until it didnt. Manning was nabbed when he left a voice message for someone and that person recognized the voice.

He got in trouble, Montgomery said. I think Archie received a phone call, and he had to apologize to these dads for those prank calls.

Manning is the son of an NFL star quarterback. His genetics certainly helped. But he didnt stroll into high school as a phenomenal athlete. He was slow and skinny, and it was his relentless work ethic that molded him into the player he became.

People make assumptions that because Peyton had all the success he had that he was born fast, born able to jump high, strong, Teaford said.

But we used to do a speed camp with the track coach when we were in the eighth grade. There was a heavyset guy who would run with us, and Peyton was running with him. In eighth grade he was probably close to a [6-second-flat 40-yard dash].

When we went into the weight room, he practically couldnt lift the bar. Its a testament to who he is. Its not where he started, its where he got to in the end that matters. I bet by his senior year he was probably running a 4.9[-second] 40 and I know he used to talk all the time about how much stronger he got at Tennessee. Its pretty amazing. Its not like he was born with that talent.

Manning routinely would gather his receivers for impromptu workouts, and it was always with a purpose, not just to toss around the ball. Keck, who was a tight end, remembers the quarterback directing him to run five-yard out routes over and over.

I didnt understand that the five-and-out was critically important for spreading out the defense, Keck said. All I knew was it was the most boring play ever. Youre going to catch it and go out of bounds or get killed. Youre going to get four, maybe five yards if you catch it.

I would do it 18, maybe 20 times and I was like, This is so boring. Can we do different routes? Can we do a post or a long touchdown catch? But he understood the strategic nature of the timing of that route with each receiver. He was probably working on making sure that as soon as I swung my head around the ball was right there. Meanwhile, Im just complaining. My feet hurt. I dont want to catch another five-and-out. Its just not that fun.

Retired NFL quarterbacks Peyton Manning, left, and brother Eli have enjoyed post-football time on the golf course.

(Eric Risberg / Associated Press)

The lesson?

He got to this point where he decided he was going to be the best, and he just put his head down, Keck said. He out-prepares anybody.

Manning will be up on that stage in Canton, but his high school teammates and friends in the audience will feel as if theyre standing right beside him.

Its been a long journey for all of us, Stibbs said. Weve been going to the games when he was in Knoxville in college every year. For the 18 years that he was with the Colts. In Denver, we would go to games every year. It almost feels like were going in with him. Weve been part of that whole experience, that whole journey where its consumed our lives too.

Said Montgomery: Selfishly, I dont think we ever wanted him to retire. Its such a part of the last 20-plus years, whether it was going to Denver or Indy or some other NFL town to go watch him play, and how proud we were to be a part of it, and our families a part of it, whether its our spouses or kids.

We knew five years after retirement he was going to be a first-ballot Hall of Famer, and here it is. Its crazy to kind of put that cherry on top.

Hes exceeded expectations every step along the way.

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Stories behind ascension of Hall of Fame QB Peyton Manning - Los Angeles Times