Mannings Span Eras of Dissent

In the late 1960s, America was in the midst of social unrest, caught up in a divisive war abroad and an invasive drug culture at home. It was a troublesome, challenging time, especially on college campuses, where dissent was the order of the day.

In that time of turmoil, Archie Manning arrived at the University of Mississippi destined to become a star quarterback, marry the homecoming queen, be drafted in the first round by the NFL, and wind up in his school’s Hall of Fame.

His was the ultimate All-American story.

A quarter-century later, Peyton Manning arrived at the University of Tennessee, destined to become a star quarterback, certain to be drafted in the first round by the NFL.

His All-American story was every bit as honorable as his father’s, with one big difference: Not all his teammates could avoid having a police record.

“Times change,” Archie Manning said. “The game has changed. The players have changed.”

Archie Manning does not suggest that he and his Ole Miss teammates were angels.

“I had fun in college,” he said. “I got in places a time or two where I shouldn’t have been. There was drinking. With football players, it’s a macho thing. You get to drinking, you’re asking for trouble. There was trouble then. There were minute things, maybe late for curfew, stuff like that. There was never stuff like beating up women. I don’t understand beating up people. I don’t get it. I don’t know where that came from.”

During Peyton Manning’s time at Tennessee, players have been disciplined for telephone credit card fraud, public drunkenness, rape and most recently, misdemeanor assault.

Last March, wide receiver Greg Kyler and linebacker Anthony Hampton were ordered to perform 100 hours of community service after pleading guilty to beating up a university trainer.

Kyler was suspended for spring practice and one game. He returned to catch three passes and then was suspended again--this time indefinitely--for an unspecified violation of team rules. Hampton was suspended for the entire season.

“Obviously, I don’t know everything that happens in a certain situation,” Peyton Manning said, “but here at Tennessee we’ve had some troubled situations. It just makes me think players aren’t thinking.

“In college, there are so many temptations, people pulling you different ways. I have people pulling me different ways a lot, wanting me to get into wrong-type situations. But you have to recognize what’s important to you. I don’t see why anyone would want to risk their career in college football for something that’s not important.”

Still, it happens.

“Maybe they’re not playing a whole lot or people aren’t paying attention to them,” Peyton Manning said. “They kind of just fade away and somebody buddies up to them and pulls them in the wrong direction.”

Archie Manning believes trouble is often the result of pressures placed on students trying to fit into a student body with which they have little in common.

Not all those who get in trouble fit that profile, though. Athletes from well-to-do as well as dirt poor backgrounds, black as well as white, are campus offenders.

“Going to college is a transition for any kid,” Manning said. “I’ve got to believe the hardest part for a kid is dealing with the rest of the campus. You want them to. They did away with athletic dorms so they could live with other students, but it’s hard for them to assimilate.”

And then there’s the problem of money--who has it, who doesn’t.

“Peyton told me he was sympathetic with players who don’t have the money to go where everyone else went,” Manning said. “They wind up drinking in their rooms, go out and get in trouble.

“Every Saturday, when they’re home, we’re there at Tennessee. We wait on Peyton and take him out to eat. I see other kids whose parents aren’t there. They’ve just won a game and they have to go back to their dorms. They can’t afford to go out for a pizza. That bothers me. It’s a full week of work, balancing time between studying and practice. They go out and perform for three hours, you’d like to see them have enough money to go out and relax. They can’t.”

The economic isolation can create frustration and trouble. In the aftermath of the problems at Tennessee, the university established the Unity Council, a group of senior players who meet with head coach Phillip Fulmer on a regular basis to discuss issues with teammates.

“It’s a way for coach Fulmer to know what’s going on with the team,” Peyton Manning said. “He’ll say, ‘Guys, anybody with any problems?’ We might say, ‘This guy is hanging around with the wrong people. You might want to talk to him.’ Nobody’s telling on the guy, but otherwise coach Fulmer has no way of knowing. He can’t come around the dorm every day, and guys aren’t going to tell him everything.”

The council then becomes a tool for Fulmer to rescue players, pull them back from the brink of trouble.

The odd thing is, at a time when there was trouble all over the country, Archie Manning can’t ever remember any of his teammates needing that kind of safety net.