How old was peyton manning when he retired from football


How Old Was Peyton Manning When He Retired?

If you’ve ever wondered how old Peyton Manning was when he retired, the answer is pretty straightforward, and the reasons around it are quite interesting.

Watching Peyton Manning’s career evolve is a favorite amongst many football fans, as he has proven what hard work and dedication can do. But how long was he able to do it for? This is a common question that most of us want answered.

Peyton Manning was almost 40 years old when he retired from football after playing in the NFL for 18 seasons, winning 2 Super Bowls, earning over $30 million by the time he had retired from professional football, and being offered a job as a football announcer after his retirement.

Any athlete who has had a career like Peyton Manning’s is intriguing to us. His accomplishments are many, as are some of his sacrifices to get to where he was before he retired. And, given his age when he finally retired, his story is an inspiration for all of us.

Having grown up in Colorado, I was thrilled when Peyton Manning came to the Denver Broncos, but wondered if he would be able to continue to perform on the same level as he had been, given his age. I have followed his career ever since then, and I think it’s one well-worth learning more about, as he is not only an accomplished athlete but a stand-up human being as well.

Watching our favorite football player’s careers play out on the field and in the media is fascinating, especially given how hard many of them train their bodies and how many sacrifices they must make. In fact, the average career length for most professional football players is only a little over 3 years.

The ability to maintain a career much past that is a challenge, even for athletes who have trained for this type of sport their entire lives. Whether they have sustained injuries, have battled personal issues, or struggle to be chosen as a draft pick that will then get the salary negotiations they are hoping for, playing for the NFL much beyond a few years is not common.

To be able to make it through several seasons is impressive. But to extend that playing time to decades is almost unheard of.

So there is no wonder we are all fascinated by the career of Peyton Manning and how old he was when he finally retired.

Let’s look more closely at this famed athlete’s career and what age he was when he finally retired from the sport of professional football.

1. Peyton Manning Played For the NFL for 18 Seasons

Born in 1976, Peyton Manning is one of the most widely celebrated quarterbacks throughout professional football history.

The son and brother of men who were also NFL quarterbacks, Manning started his football career playing college football for the Tennessee Volunteers.

He was chosen as a first draft pick in 1998, the year he graduated. He then spent 14 seasons playing for the Indianapolis Colts, which comprised the majority of his career, an amazing amount of time for a football player to be on the field.

Peyton Manning was eventually traded to the Denver Broncos, where he played as starting quarterback for 4 more seasons.

It was while with the Denver Broncos, that Peyton Manning announced his retirement, just shy of his 40th birthday.

2. Peyton Manning Won 2 Superbowls

In addition to an almost unheard-of career as a professional quarterback, Peyton Manning also won two Superbowls during his significant career before he retired at almost 40 years old.

Peyton Manning was instrumental in getting the Indianapolis Colts into two Super Bowls during his time on that team, and they eventually won Superbowl XLI which was played in February of 2007.

Another achievement for Peyton Manning before his retirement was winning the Most Valuable Player award at that Superbowl.

The second Super Bowl win for Peyton Manning was when he played for the Denver Broncos. During his last season of play, Peyton Manning helped lead his team to beat the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl 50.

It was not long after Super Bowl 50 that Peyton Manning announced that he would be retiring before he turned 40 years old, making him one of the oldest quarterbacks ever to have still been playing for the NFL late into their thirties.

3. Peyton Manning Earned Over $30 Million By the Time He Retired

It may be hard to believe, but throughout his 18-year career, it is estimated that Peyton Manning made a total of over $30 million which included not only his yearly salary and bonuses but also multiple endorsement deals of all sorts.

Retirement at age 39 must not have felt too difficult, given the amount of income he was able to earn throughout his almost 20-year career.

He has also gone on to secure plenty of endorsement deals, with companies such as Gatorade, Nike, and Nationwide Insurance.

He is also the owner of multiple Papa John’s pizza franchises throughout and around the Denver, Colorado area.

4. Peyton Manning Was Offered a Job as a Football Announcer After His Retirement

Finally, even after many years on the field, 2 Superbowl wins and plenty of retirement income, Peyton Manning is spending that retirement doing something he still loves – talking football.

In a deal with ESPN Sports, Peyton Manning joined forces with his also-legendary football-playing brother, Eli Manning, to host a Monday night football broadcast on the network.

It’s hard to imagine two players that know football, as well as these brothers, know the game, and now that they are both retired, fans are excited about getting to hear their commentary and advice to those who are still playing on the football field. So, even though he may have retired at 39 years old, clearly Peyton Manning is still going strong.

Peyton Manning's net worth, age, kids, wife, stats, salary, movies, profiles

Peyton Manning is no stranger in the NFL world; most people know him as the son of Archie Manning, the retired quarterback. Eli Manning, the two-time Super Bowl Champion, is his brother. People describe them as football's royal family. Read on to find out why.

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Peyton Manning's net worth, age, kids, wife, stats, salary, movies, profiles. Photo: @Brett Figueroa
Source: Facebook

Peyton Manning was inducted into the Hall of Fame five years after his retirement. After two decades of successfully playing football and earning the MVP title five times, he hung his boots. Even after he retired from professional football, he shows up on TV commercials, stirring speculations on where he is and what he is doing. His biography deciphers that and more.

Peyton Manning's profile summary

  • Full name: Peyton Williams Manning
  • Nickname: The Sheriff, The Caveman or Peydirt
  • Gender: Male
  • Date of birth: 24th March 1976
  • Age: 45 years (As of December 2021)
  • Zodiac: Aries
  • Place of birth: New Orleans, Louisiana
  • Current residence: Denver, Colorado.
  • Nationality: American
  • Religion: Christian
  • Peyton Manning's height in centimetres: 196 cm
  • Height in feet: 6'5"
  • Weight in kg: 104 kg
  • Weight in pounds: 230 lbs
  • Eye colour: Brown
  • Hair colour: Honey brown
  • Occupation: retired NFL player, co-author, philanthropist
  • Position: Quarterback
  • Peyton Manning's Super Bowl wins: 2007 and 2016
  • College: University of Tennessee
  • High school: Isidore Newman (New Orleans)
  • Marital status: Married
  • Spouse: Ashley Thompson
  • Father: Archie Manning
  • Mother: Olivia (née Williams)
  • Brothers: Cooper Manning and Eli Manning
  • Children: Marshall Williams and Mosley Thompson
  • Net Worth: $250 million

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Peyton Manning's biography

Peyton Manning is a former quarterback in the NFL. He hails from New Orleans and is the elder brother to the iconic Eli Manning. Cooper Manning, Peyton Manning's brother, was forced to quit football after sustaining a spinal injury. So, in high school, the NFL star used to wear a No 18 shirt to honour him.

Peyton Manning's age

He was born on 224th March 1976 to Archie and Olivia (née Williams) in New Orleans, Louisiana. He was the middle child in his family. As of December 2021, he is forty-five years old.

Peyton Manning's stats

Peyton after winning the Super Bowl. Photo: gettyimages.com
Source: Getty Images

Peyton developed an interest in football at a young age since his father, Archie, was a star quarterback with the New Orleans Saints. He started playing the sport in high school and received a national Player of the Year award.

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Junior career

When he proceeded to the University of Tennessee, he was the starting quarterback for four years. In 1996, he earned the Sullivan Award as the country’s top amateur athlete. In 1997, he was selected to be part of the first-team All-American.

Professional career

In 1998, the Colts drafted the NFL star's first overall, and in 1999, he helped the team win the first title since 1987. In 2003, he was awarded the Most Valuable Player award alongside Steve McNair. In 2004, he won the MVP award again and set a record that was broken in 2007.

During the 2005 season, Peyton led the Colts to victories in the first 13 games and was one of the favourites to win the Super Bowl. However, the team lost to Pittsburgh Steelers. In 2006, he led the Colts to win the championships. In 2008, he won the MVP title for the third time.

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In 2010, he led the Colts to the 10th consecutive playoff berth. He missed the season in 2011 after enduring a neck injury. His absence led the Colts to struggle to a 2-14 record. In 2012, the team released the NFL star to avoid paying him a $28 million bonus. He signed a five-year contract with Denver Broncos.

Denver Broncos

In Denver, the NFL star returned to his previous form and led the NFL in completion percentage. He led the team to a conference-best record of 13-3. In 2013, he established a new record of 5,477 passing yards, 10 interceptions and 55 touchdown passes. He also won his fifth MVP award. He led Denver Broncos to two playoff victories to advance to the Super Bowl. However, Broncos lost to the Seattle Seahawks.

In 2014, Peyton threw his 509th touchdown, setting a record that Drew Brees and Brady later broke. By the end of 2014, he had a record of 4,727 passing yards and 39 touchdowns. During the 2015 season, he struggled. However, he still broke Favre's record of 71,838 career passing yards. Brees broke the NFL star's record in 2018.

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At the beginning of the 2015 season, an injured Peyton was replaced as the Denver Broncos' starting quarterback. He resumed at the end of the season and led Denver Broncos to another trip to the Super Bowl. The team defeated Carolina Panthers and won the title for the first time in 17 years.

How old was Peyton Manning when he retired?

Peyton in 2017. Photo: gettyimages.com
Source: Getty Images

In March 2016, the NFL star announced he was retiring from professional football. By then, he was forty years old. Peyton Manning's career end came after setting a record of 71,940 passing yards and 539 touchdowns.

Peyton Manning's wife

Peyton married the love of his life, Ashley Thompson, in Memphis on St. Patrick's Day, 2001. Ashley hails from Tennessee and is an alumnus of the University of Virginia. She allegedly met her husband through a neighbour.

Are Peyton Manning and Ashley Manning still married?

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Peyton Manning's kids

The NFL star and Ashley Thompson have a set of twins, Marshall Williams, Peyton Manning's son, and Mosely Thompson, their daughter. Peyton Manning's children were born on 31st March 2011. The family lives in Denver, Colorado.

Peyton Manning's salary

At the peak of his career, the leading star in NFL made a whopping $18 million. Some years he made as much as $40 million from other deals.

Peyton Manning's net worth

Peyton Manning's net worth is approximately $250 million. Apart from his NFL career, he still makes money through brand endorsements and featuring in TV commercials.

Peyton Manning's movies and TV shows

Apart from making money through appearing in TV commercials and endorsing major brands, Manning is a producer. These are some of the films and TV shows that accord him credits:

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  • Eli's Places
  • College Bowl
  • Peyton's Places
  • Detail

Peyton Manning's Hall of Fame

Peyton Manning was enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame for the class of 2021.

These details about Peyton Manning's net worth reflect on the star's rise to fame. He was born to a family that adored football, and he carried forth the family' legacy through his flourishing career. Cooper, Eli and Peyton Manning join their father in running the Manning Passing Academy during the summer. It is a camp that improves the skills of athletes.

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90,000 Peyton Manning: Defender of the NFL

Payton Manning 2015
Author: Captain Darin Overstrit

  • Lesson: Football player
  • born: March 24, 1976 in New Orleans, Louisiana.
  • Nickname: Sheriff
  • Most famous: Super Bowl wins with the Indianapolis Colts and Denver Broncos

Biography:

Peyton Manning was one of the best quarterbacks in NFL history. He played the first fourteen years of his professional career for the Indianapolis Colts, but moved to the Denver Broncos in 2012 after a year with a neck injury.

Where did Peyton grow up?

Peyton was born March 24, 1976 in New Orleans, Louisiana. His full name is Peyton Williams Manning. Peyton played quarterback for three years in high school. He also played on the baseball and basketball teams. In his senior year of high school, Manning was named Gatorade National Player of the Year.


Peyton Manning won the Super Bowl?

Yes, Peyton won two Super Bowls. The first was in the 2006 season when Peyton Manning led the Colts to Super Bowl XLI. They beat the Chicago Bears 29-17. Peyton was awarded the Super Bowl MVP for his outstanding performance. The second win was in his last season when he led the Denver Broncos to a victory over the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl 50.

What number did Peyton Manning wear?

Peyton wore number 18 in the NFL. He wore number 16 in college. Tennessee retired his jersey and number in 2005.


Peyton Manning plays defenseman
Author: corporal. Michelle M. Dixon Where did Peyton Manning go to college?

Peyton entered the University of Tennessee. Many people were very surprised by this, since his father, Archie, went to Olya, miss. Peyton, however, wanted to mind his own business and settled on Tennessee. In Tennessee, Manning set the SEC record for most career wins with 39 wins. He also became Tennessee's leading passer with 89 touchdowns and 11,201 yards. Peyton was considered one of the best players in the NCAA and was selected number 1 in the NFL Draft 1998 years.

Does Peyton have any known relatives?

Peyton's younger brother, Eli Manning, is also a professional quarterback. He plays for the New York Giants and also won two Super Bowls. The two brothers played against each other three times during their NFL careers. These games were often referred to as "crew bowl".

Peyton's father, Archie Manning, was a famous NFL quarterback who played most of his career with the New Orleans Saints. Peyton also has an older brother, Cooper, and his mother's name is Olivia.

Retirement

Peyton Manning retired on March 7, 2016 after the 2016 Super Bowl. He played in the NFL for 18 seasons.

What NFL records and awards does Peyton hold?

At the time of his retirement, Manning had too many records and honors to list them all here, but we'll list a few of his most impressive:

  • Most career passing yards ------ 71940
  • Most career passes ------- 539
  • Most career wins by a quarterback (playoffs and regular season) ----- 200
  • Most seasons with at least 4,000 passing yards ------ 14
  • Most games with a perfect passer rating -- ---- 4,
  • 90,008 2012 NFL Comeback Player of the Year Award 90,011 90,008 Highest career TDs per game ------ 1. 91 TDs per game 90,011 90,008 2007 Super Bowl Player of the Year 90,011 90,008 Most completions and the most passes in a decade
  • First QB to beat all the other 31 teams in the regular season (Tom Brady did it later that day and Brett Favre did it the next week) "Saturday Night Live" in honor of his 31st birthday.
  • He has his own charity called the PeyBack Foundation, which helps underprivileged children in Tennessee, Indiana, and Louisiana.
  • He has a children's hospital named after him, Peyton Manning Children's Hospital in St. Vincent. It is located in Indianapolis.
  • Peyton has appeared in numerous television commercials and has endorsed products such as Sony, DirectTV, MasterCard, Sprint, Buick and ESPN.

Biographies of other sports legends:

Baseball:
Derek Jeter
Tim Lincecum
Joe Mauer
Albert Pujols

Peyton Manning.

Athlete of the Year. Part Two - Denver Broncos - Blogs

A gray SUV rolled down the Denver country highway in the shadow of the Green Mountains, past aspens and fields of alfalfa. The best quarterback in the world once again sits in the back of a Toyota. He wears a beige sweater over a fresh white shirt, specially worn for the performance at the Alexander Dawson School in Lafayette, where the still-boy raised his hand and asked Manning to tell him how he plays football. Standing in the middle of the gym, seeing the faces of 450 students in front of him, Peyton paused for a moment to think. He had so much to share with this boy.

Archie, his father, rarely discussed game strategy at home, but one key lesson Peyton remembered was: “You have to know what you are doing on the field, because then you can get rid of the ball in time. And if you get rid of it, you won’t get hit anymore.” Oddly enough, Archie himself did not always heed his own advice. But not Peyton. Manning approaches the screaming line and snaps a snapshot of the defensive setup. Then he scans his catalog in his head, remembering where he had seen such a scheme before, how it worked then. Of course, he can't predict what the defenders will do in a moment, but he can tell what they definitely won't do. "What's going to happen here," he asks himself, folding his hands in front of his face, as if looking into the lens of an imaginary camera. “I'm not 100% sure, but I can see and know that the linebackers are way outside, which means they won't blitz. I'm just narrowing down my options." He chooses a play and gives instructions to his defenders on how best to counter this scheme. Everything takes 10 seconds. Incredible.

1996 Manning gives some advice to Tennessee backup quarterback Ty Martin.

But the kid must not hear all this. At least for now. “I try to throw the ball very fast before these huge and terrible defensive linemen get to me,” Peyton replies. This, kids, is a rudimentary version of how a 37 year old who couldn't throw a ball for 10 yards in 2011 and was asked out of the NFL in the spring of 2012 became the best quarterback in the world in 2013. 0006

Fans are still cautious when an aging athlete tries to get back into the sport. Of course, Manning lacks the arm strength that he had before. He still can't run properly. His upper body is too thin. But his mind, capable of instant mind-blowing analysis, is a weapon over which Manning has not lost control.

When Peyton was still a rookie, the Colts introduced a set of no-huddle combinations called "Lighting" into their game, designed to be used in those moments of the game when every second is critical. Sometime in 2000, offensive coordinator Tom Moore asked Manning: “What are we waiting for when we win 10-0? Why don't we start playing Lightning even when we win? This question changed football. For starters, Moore suggested choosing one of two rallies along the sideline. Then he gave four more draws for running backs and receivers. Then he gave Peyton the entire match, which quietly turned into a season without huddles. “Smart guys have always played in this position. Manning has made it so that just being smart is no longer enough,” says John Elway, vice president of Denver. “He was the first who forced the center to quickly give the ball away, who began to calculate the cover on the line and, based on this, independently look for the right draw, assigning combinations. He really started playing no-huddle first. And now everyone is doing it." Yes, now starting with kids football played by kids aged 5 to 15, quarterbacks are being asked to think faster because Manning has proven it's possible. "He set a new standard for quarterbacks," says Patriot Tom Brady.

By the way, Peyton still uses the Lightning package in the Denver Broncos, as well as a super fast variant of it he called Bolt. Light and lightning. Logically.

The injury made him another quarterback. Manning now relies more on leg strength to generate power and speed on the ball, and puts more emphasis on footwork as he moves inside the envelope. He can no longer throw extra long passes between a pair of safetys. Now the task is to be extremely accurate: a wide step and a pass if you read the field at a time, two wide steps and a pass if you read it repeatedly, and so on. Now he looks more closely at the defense of the enemy and throws the ball much more sharply. “I analyze the field from myself deep into the defense,” says Manning himself.

The injury made him a different person. He used to feel embarrassed when people said they were praying for him. "I'm fine, you don't have to do this," he said. Now Peyton thanks them for their prayers. He does not go to bed until one in the morning. He and Ashley play with the twins, put them to bed and have dinner with a glass of wine. As a rule, Peyton sleeps until ten in the morning. In practice, he often lets second quarterback Brock Osweiler play a few of his snaps. And let Manning be regularly portrayed as a robot jogging to the touchline while his teammates celebrate a touchdown. But he can be sentimental. He may shed tears while watching videos of the past.

Two years ago, on a New Orleans game, Peyton asked his mother to take him on a tour of old friends' backyards. In the end, they stopped at their old house, where Manning spent his childhood. Only six blocks from where his parents now live. He knocked on the door and said to the new owner, “Hello! I'm Peyton Manning and I'd like to take a look at my room." And recently, he sold his home in Indianapolis, and Ashley flew there to hand it over to the buyer. She walked through the corridors, filming everything on her mobile. When she reached the basement, Ashley said, "That's where Peyton spent a lot of nights, thanks to which the Colts won a lot of games." Manning watches this tape, breathless with excitement, words and tears choking him. He never thought he would leave this place.

The fourth operation immediately relieved the pain, but did not completely restore the nerves in the right arm. People with nerve damage said, "You can get up tomorrow morning and you'll be fine because it's nerves," says Manning. “It's encouraging. But on the other hand, waking up day after day and not seeing any improvement, you are terribly disappointed. Colts coaches, accustomed to the quarterback's invincibility, hid their concerns from him. "He couldn't throw the ball," Torine says. “I was scared for him, scared for everything that happened to him. The ups and downs, the joy of drinking, the anxiety, the sadness, he went through all the stages of a complex recovery process.

2007 Mannning with Reggie Wayne (left) and Marvin Harrison at Colt training camp. Peyton's two select targets in Indianapolis.

In November 2011, Manning flew to Durham, North Carolina, where he met with former Tennessee offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe. He was now head coach of the local Duke Blue Devils varsity team. He stayed with him to live. "I've never seen him so imperfect," Cutcliffe says. “He was so out of order that I had to literally beg him to throw the ball. He was in a state where he was hurting himself. We humans are products of what our nerves allow us to do. He had to rebuild the entire throwing mechanic from scratch. He had to retrain." They were working in the Blue Devils locker room, going through old videos of the Colts, and Manning kept trying to impersonate that Manning. “When I was throwing, I was shocked that the ball didn't go where I planned to hit it,” Peyton says. “It got to the point where I almost passed out with joy when I finally threw it where I wanted to.” One evening, returning to the Cutcliffe house, he asked David: "Should I continue all this?".

Manning had been training with David Cutcliffe for about three months when the nerve started burning his arm again. “You have probably heard or read about people who overcame what they should not have overcome. And I saw it with my own eyes,” says David. In the end, they moved from the dressing room to the field. Manning played ten practice games at the Devils' spring training session wearing an Indianapolis helmet. He had no other. He then brought in a few Colts players, friends of his—center Jeff Saturday, tight end Dallas Clark, wide receivers Brandon Stockley and Austin Colley—and on March 3, 2012, they modeled in full detail an AFC title game against the New York Jets. “It was a little over the top with the Indianapolis Colts-type stealth defense on the field,” Stokely says, standing on the touchline and smashing a gatorade cup. “But this is how it works. You could say that's how he got back on track."

Four days later, the Colts, who had the first pick in the 2012 draft and were eyeing Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck, cut Manning off the team. "I think it broke his heart," Archie says. “I think that was when he realized the reality. It's time to leave. But he decided he had to spend his entire career in Indianapolis." Peyton returned and said he was ready to help Andrew. that wants to stay. The Colts refused his help and he moved on. Yes, Manning may have shed a tear at the farewell press conference, calling Colts owner Jim Irsay "a friend of mine," but when he arrived as a free agent at Broncos headquarters the next day, John Elway saw him from a different perspective. “He was in shock,” Elway says. “He still couldn’t believe that the Colts broke his contract. He didn't believe the talk, which, of course, came to his ears until it actually happened. But now he wants to prove that Irsey made the wrong decision. He didn't say it out loud because he's not that kind of guy, but I took his message. When great players are neglected, they come back with a vengeance. We signed a Halloffheimer with a computer chip in his shoulder."

Manning moved from one coaching staff to another. He started in Tennessee, played with the Colts, rebounded with the Blue Devils. In the end, he found a home in Denver. The Broncos staff were less concerned with his hand than with his general physical condition. "He was really out of shape," says Luke Richesson, fitness coach for the Denver Broncos. “We had to take it apart like it was a car – remove the engine, sort it out, clean it, add horsepower.” The main problem was coordination. In training, he was limited to 40 shots, when he was usually forced to do 80, and even then, he did a pass once every two days. All the attention of the coaches was focused on regaining control over the body. One of the exercises was called the "dead bug", in which Manning lay on a wide, loose cylinder, trying to keep his balance without falling to the ground, while extending his left arm and right leg to the sides, and vice versa, with weights attached to his wrists and ankles. "The first time he couldn't even hold on to it, let alone lift the load," says coach Steve Antonopoulos. "Don't forget it was neurological damage and everything else was affected."

2007 Mannig and Colts owner Jim Irsay on media day before the Chicago Super Bowl decider.

Peyton's physical therapy continued throughout the regular season, but that didn't stop him from finishing with a 13-3 record. Most players lose fitness by Game 16, but a week before Denver and Baltimore faced off in the playoffs, Manning set personal bests for squatting, benching and throwing a medicine ball. David Cutcliffe's thirteen-year-old daughter, Emily, after Manning's resurrection from the ashes, asked her father: "Daddy, don't you think something incredible has happened?"

Manning is once again the leader of the team. "You strive to be better because it's Peyton Manning," says Broncos lead wide receiver Demarius Thomas. "I know I'm the best player because he's here." "That's the secret of football with Peyton Manning," adds tight end Jacob Tamme. “As much as he demands from himself, so much from others. It penetrates you on a subconscious level.” They watch him enter the field wearing a knee brace due to a severe ankle sprain, a protective glove on his right hand, which still sometimes goes numb. Watch how he struggles with lameness. At the same time, Peyton's intellect is so dominant over everything else that it's easy not to hear his heart.

In the back seat of the SUV at Manning's feet is a stack of letters: from a mother whose son had a motorcycle accident and is now learning to walk again, from a 90-year-old woman who plays against her friend in College Pick, guessing the results of the games, but a friend recently died and she needs a new opponent, from a man who can't move his neck and doesn't know what to do now. Every professional athlete gets stacks of teary emails like this, but to Manning they sound very different now than they used to. "I didn't have a serious illness," Peyton says. “My life was not in mortal danger. But I feel that I have the right to write or call them, because recently I feel a deeper connection with such families.

A son of the noble South, Manning learned early on the power of handwriting, whether it be a large text or just a note. He still remembers the college coaches who wrote to him while recruiting. He licked his thumb and rubbed their signatures, trying to determine if they were real or if they were computer printed. When Manning left for college, Archie sent him a letter before the start of each fall semester.

Throughout his career, he wrote to retired coaches and players, and widows of footballers. He writes to the victims of tragedies he has seen or heard about. He writes to his children every six months, even if they can't read his letters yet. Ashley regularly buys stationery and special cream-colored postcards with "Peyton Williams Manning" printed on the top. He draws an arrow if his message continues on the other side of the card. “Though I'm not sure if it's the right thing to do,” Peyton says. It is difficult to find a coach, teammate or someone from the staff of the club, to whom he did not write at least a couple of lines. “I got the note when my father passed away,” Brandon Stockley says. "And another one when Manning stayed overnight at my house." "I got the letter when I retired," says former Colts assistant video director Marty Heckscher. "It moved me to tears." "I got mine when I got fired, too," says former Buffalo coach John Torine. "And meant more than any salary."

2012 Manning and his new Land Cruiser 200.

All of Manning's support for others paid off in the same year he missed due to illness: calls from friends such as Fox commentator Joe Buck, who almost lost his voice due to a nervous spasm in one of his vocal cords, calls from rivals: from Tom Brady and Patriots head coach Bill Belichek. "We've been playing for a long time, playing in the same era, and I know very few people who have felt what we're going through," says Tom Brady. “This is mutual understanding.


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