By admin 
DALLAS – Before the first family of football had so much as planted its tree, there was only Archie. He was plenty on his own. Consider when he played for Ole Miss against Alabama in 1969 and amassed a total of 540 yards, becoming the first college player to pass for 300 yards and rush for 100 in an era when quarterbacks mostly just handled the luggage.
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Archie might have gone down as the best of the Mannings had he not had the misfortune to start his 13-year NFL career with the Saints, who stunted his growth. In three of his first five seasons, he led the league in sacks, including a whopping 49 in 1975.
No telling how high the number might have gone had he not been so good at running for his life.
Archie’s three sons – Cooper, Peyton and Eli – didn’t spend much time reflecting on their father’s exploits during a panel discussion Wednesday night at the Cotton Bowl Classic Keynote in the Wyly Theatre. Archie’s lessons – handed down to his grandchildren, including the one in Austin – rarely revolved around football. He had a different set of priorities, shaped, in part, by a tragedy of his youth.
First, a note to the reader: Going into Texas-OU, the gist of this column was supposed to be a comparison of the Mannings as quarterbacks. But, as will happen, a better story cut to the front of the line. For the sake of the argument, let’s rank ‘em and get it out of the way. Peyton holds a comfortable lead over Eli, followed by Archie. Arch has yet to enter the conversation, though he possesses attributes of all three.
Also, if I was reading this right, one of his uncles might even have suggested Wednesday that another year at Texas might not be such a bad thing.
Anyway, if you’re only telling one story about the Mannings, the one you need to hear is the effect the patriarch has had on his heirs to this day. If you’ve wondered why Arch calls his grandfather his role model, consider the testimony of Archie’s sons.
Eli called his father “kind,” “courteous” and “engaging,” and those were just the observations of his interactions with fans.
“He was our dad, our hero, our role model and favorite quarterback,” Peyton said, “kind of all wrapped into one.”
The first lesson Archie imparted was the gift of presence. After retiring at 35 in 1984, he had opportunities to coach, but Cooper, Peyton and Eli were 10, 8 and 3, respectively. He stayed home in New Orleans instead.
He showed up.
“I could see him in the stands,” Peyton said. “It was very important to me.”
Archie loved football, loved the lessons it taught about sacrifice and teamwork and how to handle winning and losing, but he didn’t force it on his boys. He didn’t tell them what they did right or wrong on the way home from a game. He told them what was important.
“Told us he loved us and he was proud of us after a game, whether we won or lost,” Peyton said. “He lost his father when he was in college.
“Had a huge impact on his parenting philosophy.”
Elisha Archibald “Buddy” Manning Jr. died on Aug. 16, 1969, two months shy of his son’s big game against the Crimson Tide. Facing financial problems and the effects of a stroke, Buddy took his own life with a shotgun. Archie found his father in a bedroom. He burned the mattress and did what else he could to keep his mother and sister from coming home and seeing what he had.
He offered to quit school and go to work to support the family, but his mother would have none of it. She’d always been his biggest fan. He would go on to create a generation of them.
He is perhaps more famous now as the father and grandfather of quarterbacks than he ever was as a quarterback himself. Universally regarded as one of the greatest gentlemen ever to play the game. Let’s just say his loving sons are cut from a different cloth.
Peyton and Eli, who provide their take on Monday Night Football, are as ubiquitous now as they were in uniform. Cooper, a former wide receiver whose football career was cut short by a diagnosis of spinal stenosis as a freshman at Ole Miss, has multiple gigs, too.
They are just as clever and quick in person. Like when the moderator, Sam Acho, asked Peyton why he went to Tennessee instead of his father’s alma mater.
“He didn’t get into Ole Miss,” Eli said, interrupting.
Archie took a lot of heat from Oxford’s faithful when Peyton chose Tennessee. They wanted to know why in the world he didn’t make his talented son choose Ole Miss, a potential gamechanger for the program. He told them it was his son’s decision, not his, and he wouldn’t question it. His boys took the lesson to heart, as evidenced when Arch picked Texas.
For the record, Peyton loved his four years at Tennessee. Said his senior year prepared him for what was to come in Indianapolis. Made him physically and mentally tougher. Seemed like he was trying to send someone a message, if you ask me.
From the looks of it, Arch could use another year in Austin. Argue the lure of the NFL all you want. The Mannings do things differently.
When Acho asked what Arch’s father does to try to block out the noise that comes with being a Manning at one of the nation’s marquee programs, Cooper said, “There’s not a good answer.” As is the case in most of life’s trials, he said, he asks himself what Archie would do.
Lately he’s had other inspirations, as well. One of his ventures is a golf podcast, “We Need a Fourth,” with former ESPN broadcaster Kenny Mayne and Brian Baumgartner, or Kevin from “The Office.” Their guest this week was J.J. Spaun. After finishing second to Rory McIlroy at the Players Championship in a playoff last year, Spaun told them the reason he lost was because he was content to be runner-up.
Before the U.S. Open three months later, he took the advice of his San Diego State coach, who told him, “I give you permission to fail.”
“Even this week,” Cooper told the crowd at the Wyly, “I shared that with Arch. I said, ‘You have permission to fail. Go ahead and rip it. You know, let ‘er rip. Go get ‘em.
“ ‘Whatever frees you up to be your best.’ “
Frankly, I’m not sure that’s what Archie would have told him. Or Steve Sarkisian, for that matter. But, whatever happens Saturday, and in the weeks and years to come, I’m fairly certain the Mannings will hang together. One of the old man’s lessons, from one generation of Mannings to the next.
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This story was originally published October 9, 2026 at 2:46 AM.