Figure 1.--Here is a family snapshot taken in 1981. We see the parents of the two stars with their three sons. Olivia and Archie Manning are shown at home with Eli (born the same year and therefore less than a year old), Cooper (born in 1974 and therefore about 7 or 8 years old, and Peyton (born in 1976, therefore about 5 and a half years old). Eli Manning plays football for the New York Giants and Peyton for the Indianapolis Colts. The two older boys are wearing the popular sports styled casual clothes of the 1970s and early-80s. They wear polo/golf shirts, short pants, coloful knee-length tube socks, and trendy sneakers. Cooper's socks have broad colored stripes aroung the top whereas Peyton's socks habe light colored bands all up and down. The top bands were the most common. Tube socks became popular because they were worn by both backetball and soccer players.

Perhaps the most famous football family is the Manning family. Here is a family snapshot taken in 1981. We see the parents of the two stars with their three sons. Olivia and Archie Manning are shown at home with Eli (born the same year and therefore less than a year old), Cooper (born in 1974 and therefore about 7 or 8 years old, and Peyton (born in 1976, therefore about 5 and a half years old). Eli Manning plays football for the New York Giants and Peyton for the Indianapolis Colts. Cooper might have become a football star himself but for spinal stenosis which cut short his career in sports. The two older boys are wearing the popular sports styled casual clothes of the 1970s and early-80s. They wear polo/golf shirts, short pants, coloful knee-length tube socks, and trendy sneakers. Cooper's socks have broad colored stripes aroung the top whereas Peyton's socks habe light colored bands all up and down. The top bands were the most common. Tube socks became popular because they were worn by both backetball and soccer players.

Mississippi (1950s-60s)

Mississippi, and perhaps the Univesrity in particular, were still searing from the racial violence of the mid-1950s through the mid-60s. The frightful murder of Emmett Til (1955) inaugurated a decade of tension and violence. Civil rights advocates were taunted, beaten jailed, and some paid with their lives in their struggle for basic civil rights. The University of Mississippi, along with the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa were the focus of racial desegregation efforts in 1962 and 1963. These universities were among the last bastions of racial segreagation, and President Kennedy and his brother, Robert, the attorney general, were under great political pressure to implement desegregation policies. James Meredith was the first African-American to enroll at the University of Mississippi in September 1962. Meredith's registration caused the campus to erupt in violence that resulted in two deaths, I believe. Federal troops restored order and remained to protect Meredith. Two years later, the murders of the three civil rights workers in Mississippi did more damage to the state's image. The murder of civil rights workers near Philadelphia, Mississppi was one of the most notorious incidents during the struggle for Civil Rights. The tobacco-chewing, grinning sheriff and deputies who were behind the murders remain for me the face of southern ignorance and brutality. Mississippi and the South were targets of jokes from many comedians. I remember one night in 1967 or 1968 when I was about 15 Jerry Lewis was guest host of the "Tonight Show". In his opening routine he said he was on the plane from LA to New York to do the Tonight Show. He said while he in the bathroom he heard the pilot say we were flying over Mississippi. Lewis went to his punchline, "I was able to fulfill a lifelong ambition, to go to the bathroom over Mississippi." Some in the audience laughed; others probably thought the remarks rather vile. The governor of Mississippi called NBC studios the next morning, demanding an on the air apology from Lewis. Jerry Lewis to his credit appeared genuinely humbled, apologizing to "our friends in Mississippi" for his joke.

Peyton Manning

Perhaps the most famous football family is the Manning family. Archie Manning was an instant hero in Mississippi. They called it "Archie-mania". He was so young, unknown and unheralded that first year, one sports journalist when asked about Manning, said "Archie Who?" Some local wrote a song, put it to music, and recorded it, calling the song "The Ballad of Archie Who?" It was a southern version of Beatles-mania.A reader writes,"The 1981 photo of Archie Manning and his family brings back memories. Archie Manning came from the small Mississippi Delta town of Drew. He enrolled at the University of Mississippi as an 18 years old first-year student, or Freshman as newcomers were called back then (1967). He became starting quarterback of the football team the following year. Those who have seen the film "Mississippi Burning" have some sense of what life was like in these times. Archie gave Mississippians and by extension, I suppose, some Southerners someone to be proud of, to make them proud of being Southern once again. Archie wore #18 on his jersey, and the sports kitsch we are familiar with today (replica jerseys, photos of athletes, and fan club buttons) came emblazoned with Archie's red-touseled hair, freckle-faced, image. He was Huck Finn-Opie-and Johnny Unitas rolled into one. He specialized in engineering last-minute, impossible to believe comebacks for the University of Mississippi, or "Ole Miss", teams. He was a football all-American who enjoyed a fairly long career playing for the New Orleans Saints before they became the NFL powerhouse they are today."

Marriage

Archie married his college sweetheart, Olivia, and they lived in the quaintly elegant Garden District neighborhood of New Orleans.

Manning Boys

Here is a family snapshot taken in 1981. We see the parents of the two stars with their three sons. Olivia and Archie Manning are shown at home with Eli (born the same year and therefore less than a year old), Cooper (born in 1974 and therefore about 7 or 8 years old, and Peyton (born in 1976, therefore about 5 and a half years old). Peyton and Eli were destined to become football demi-gods in the time honored southern tradition. Football, by the way, is still the preferred sport of the deep South, as I suppose it is in much of small-town America. If you ahve seen the TV show, "Friday Night Lights", about small-town Texas football, I promise you, this is a case of art meticulously imitating life. Eli Manning plays football for the New York Giants and Peyton for the Indianapolis Colts. Cooper might have become a football star himself but for spinal stenosis which cut short his career in sports.

Clothing

Olivia, and perhaps Archie, too, liked to dress Eli and Peyton in rather elegant clothes when they were small. I remember one photo of the brothers in a version of Fauntleroy suits for a wedding, perhaps. The photo I memntioned of Peyton and Eli dressed in Fauntleroy styled/inspired attire was likely for a friend's or relatives's wedding. I remember it was in a newspaper's feature about the Mannings. I thought at the time what a contrast that photo was with the more typical pictures of them in their football uniforms. My guess is that the boys didn't want their elementary school football teammates to see those photos! The two older boys here in 1881 are wearing the popular sports styled casual clothes of the 1970s and early-80s. They wear polo/golf shirts, short pants, coloful knee-length tube socks, and trendy sneakers. Cooper's socks have broad colored stripes aroung the top whereas Peyton's socks habe light colored bands all up and down. The top bands were the most common. Tube socks became popular because they were worn by both backetball and soccer players. A reader writes, "I don't think there and any stripes around Peyton's socks although the enlargement of the photo makes it look like it. I think these are just plain white tube socks, which were very common and are still worn today. A close-up of the knitting pattern with spandex threads to help the socks stay up might give the appearance of stripes, but I don't think this is part of an intentional design. If the photo had not been enlarged, I think you would not see any pale stripes." Our reader may be correct. While I recall many boys wearing tube socks with a colored band at the top. I don't recall tune socks with a series of bands down the leg.

Created: 9:12 PM 1/26/2012
Last edited: 5:14 PM 1/30/2012