Ole Miss To Honor Archie Manning With Campus Statue
(KMDL-FM) For a lot of us who adorn ourselves with black and gold on Sundays, the name Archie Manning means more than the name of a quarterback. For a new franchise at the time, Archie was the Black and Gold's first "big time" get in the college draft.
Archie was our Saint, and because of Archie, even when our teams weren't that good, we had hope. He's the kind of athlete that teams build statues to honor, and one team is doing that, but it's not the New Orleans Saints.
Ole Miss to Honor Archie Manning With Statue
It has been revealed that Archie Manning will be immortalized in a statue on the campus of the University of Mississippi, Ole Miss, where Archie excelled as a quarterback from 1968-1970.
Do You Remember the Ballad of Archie Who?
Archie was such a big deal at quarterback for Ole Miss that he even had his own song. Have you ever heard The Ballad of Archie Who? The song was recorded at Malaco Studios in Jackson, Mississippi, and I think my father-in-law was one of the producers; I know he had something to do with the final product. Regardless of the family connection, I have always hated that song.
As someone who grew up in the shadow of Archie and the Rebels at Mississippi State, the hated Ole Miss rival, Archie was not someone I wanted to cheer for, but I found myself being on his side whenever he wasn't playing Mississippi State. I still remember the devastation when he broke his arm against the University of Houston. That happened in November of 1970; that's how big of a deal it was that I still remember it.
In other words, Archie Manning, his talent, his demeanor, his way of handling himself just made it easy for even his biggest detractors to cheer for him. So, it's kind of fitting that his legacy is once again honored at Ole Miss.
Now, this isn't the only honor that Ole Miss has bestowed upon Archie and his family. The university has the Olivia and Archie Manning Athletics Performance Center football operations building. You will also find a street named “Manning Way” on campus. And speaking of the campus at Oxford, the speed limit is 18 mph, a homage to the number that Archie wore while playing for the Rebels.
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Manning was surprised by the news over the weekend at a banquet held in Oxford. It was M Club Weekend on campus, and what a great way to round it out. Of course, Manning's son Eli is his own legend at Ole Miss. His son Peyton was a star at Tennessee, and his grandson and namesake "Arch" is currently the starting quarterback for the University of Texas.
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Peyton and Eli went on to have incredible NFL careers, certainly more successful than their father's NFL career but despite the number of losing seasons, and NFL Blooper apperances I still think because Archie stood in, took the hits, got back up, and tried again, he remains the most beloved Manning, unless you count Ms Olivia, she is really the one who deserves the statue.
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