The family patriarch, Elisha “Buddy” Manning, shown here in the 1928 Drew High School yearbook (far right), departed from his ancestors by avoiding the Mississippi Delta cotton fields to sell farming equipment.

Buddy’s wry sense of humor won him “Wittiest Boy” honors in his class. But as he aged, beset by health and financial distress, he grew despondent as his son, Archie, moved upward in big-time college football. In the summer of 1969, Archie would find Buddy’s corpse after he had committed suicide in their home.

A 15-time letterman at Drew High, Archie poses proudly in the uniform of his favorite sport—baseball. But while he would be drafted by three big-league teams, his natural talent as a quarterback made King Football his path to fame and fortune. (Getty / Collegiate Images)

The Archie Manning that America would become familiar with: a baby-faced man-child in an Ole Miss uniform. (AP Photo)

Craggy-faced John Vaught was not only Archie’s coach at Ole Miss but his surrogate father. Vaught allowed him remarkable latitude to carry the ball as well as pass it, and Archie would set nearly every quarterbacking record at the school—some of which would be broken by his son Eli. (Getty / Collegiate Images)

Despite the records and glory, Archie paid for his notoriety in pain. Often injured, sometimes getting out of a hospital bed to play, this shot of him grimacing as he flexed his damaged wrist was an all-too-common sight. (AP Photo / Jack Thornell)

Archie was at his best at the 1970 Sugar Bowl, leading Ole Miss to an upset victory over No. 3–ranked Arkansas in what was to be the last bowl game between two all-white teams. (AP Photo)

Drafted by the New Orleans Saints with the second pick of the ’71 draft, Archie would see the world this way—upside down on the way to the hard turf—for most of his decade-long tenure there. Here, during his rookie season, he is upended by the Atlanta Falcons. (AP Photo)

Having married former Ole Miss homecoming queen Olivia Williams, Archie set down roots in New Orleans’s Garden District. Their antebellum-style home, surrounded by an iron gate, was where they would raise their three sons, Cooper, Peyton and Eli, and where Archie would throw them passes from the second floor. (Nikreates / Alamy Stock Photo)

All three sons would star at Newman High School, where their Green Wave uniforms are enshrined in a glass case in the athletic department. (AP Photo / Pat Semansky)

When the players’ union went out on strike in the summer of 1974, Archie walked the picket line, earning the enmity of Saints owner John Mecom and further souring his relationship with the team. (AP Photo / Jim Bourdier)

Sacked 49 times in 1975, Archie had to constantly take off and get yardage on his own. Here, in a 1976 game, he eludes Rams tackle Mike Fanning and breaks into the open field. (AP Photo / NFL Photos)

Persistence paid off for Archie in 1978. After years of agony and defeat, he won the NFC Player of the Year award, earning him a trip to the Pro Bowl and a chance to bask among the quarterbacking elite before the game with Terry Bradshaw and Bob Griese. (AP Photo / Wally Fong)

Having been loyal to the Saints through losing and tumultuous changes, Archie was crushed when he was traded to the Houston Oilers at the start of the 1982 season. “It’s kind of tough,” he said at a press conference, biting his lip to keep from crying. (AP Photo)

After being sacked 27 times in six games in Houston, he was traded again in 1983 to the once-haughty Minnesota Vikings—but with no relief. This shot of him writhing in pain after one of the 11 times he was sacked by the Chicago Bears captures the agony of his entire pro career. (AP Photo / Steve Green)

In this 1978 photo with his first two sons, Cooper (top) grabs Archie around the neck while Peyton glares into the camera as if thinking, “Who you lookin’ at?”—a reticence he would soon learn to live with. (Getty / Bettman)

Though Archie tried to be a good father to his sons, and is seen here playing with a young Eli, it was Olivia who Eli identified with. He grew up insulated from his older brothers, but when he began playing football, he found himself. (Getty / Bill Frakes)

While it had to sting that Peyton chose to go to Tennessee rather than Ole Miss, a smiling Archie proudly leads his son through the corridor of Neyland Stadium after a Vols game in 1997. Like Archie, Peyton’s college career would be filled with glory as well as big-game defeats. (AP Photo / Wade Payne)

Fame and success have rewards. Getting very used to both, in this shot following the Vols’ victory over Ohio State in the 1996 Citrus Bowl, Peyton is congratulated by an affectionate Tennessee cheerleader. (AP Photo / Chris O’Meara, File)

In the shadows of Peyton’s hype-filled college career, Eli was just beginning his own career at Newman High, coached by Frank Gendusa, who had been an assistant coach on the Green Wave when Peyton was throwing passes to Cooper. The youngest Manning’s phlegmatic look and manner led Gendusa to call him “Easy Eli.” (AP Photo / David Rae Morris)

Inevitably, the Indianapolis Colts made Peyton the first pick in the 1998 NFL draft. He is seen here coolly and confidently answering questions from the media as Archie, who had gone second in his draft, stands behind him with a beaming Olivia and Cooper. (AP Photo / Michael Conroy)

Making an immediate impact, Peyton set NFL records for first-year quarterbacks. (Reuters / Alamy Stock Photo)

Easy Eli turned his draft day upside down in 2004. He had declared that he would not play for the San Diego Chargers, who had the first pick. When they chose him, he reluctantly held up the team jersey, but waited hopefully as the Chargers negotiated a trade with the New York Giants. (Reuters / Alamy Stock Photo)

An hour later, when the trade was made, Eli and the family’s mood brightened considerably as he draped himself in Giants gear, surrounded by his parents, his girlfriend, and Peyton and his wife. But as Archie knew, Eli was walking into “a hornet’s nest.” (Getty / Chris Trotman)

The first “Manning Bowl,” when the brothers faced each other in a game, was the 2006 season opener at Giants Stadium. Though both played down the hype, for Peyton it was a matter of honor to beat his little brother, as he did all three times they met. Afterwards, he commiserated with a grim Eli on the field, ringed by cameras. (Getty / Travis Lindquist)

Always the good son, Peyton dutifully stands and waits as Archie makes a call from inside their cart during their stint at a celebrity golf tournament. For Archie, being the good father made fans discover him all over again. (AP Photo / Gerald Herbert)

In perhaps the most celebrated and unlikely play ever made, Eli, trailing the undefeated Patriots late in Super Bowl XLII, somehow breaks the grip of Rashad Moore before squaring up and heaving a long pass down the field . . . (Francis Specker / Alamy Stock Photo)

. . . . where unheralded receiver David Tyree snares it by pressing the ball against his helmet as he grapples with Patriots defensive back Rodney Harrison. The “Helmet Catch” preceded Eli’s game-winning pass to Plaxico Burress, earning Eli his first ring and a reputation as the top clutch quarterback in the league. (Reuters / Alamy Stock Photo)

Despite his two Super Bowl appearances and one championship, multiple surgeries forced Peyton to miss the 2011 season, leading Colts owner Jim Irsay to release him. At the announcement, an emotional Manning grimaced as Irsay praised him; then the quarterback eloquently thanked Colt fans for their years of support. (Reuters / Alamy Stock Photo)

Peyton’s second NFL career began when he signed with the Denver Broncos. A key factor in his decision was his admiration for the jut-jawed John Elway, whose Hall of Fame career with the team preceded his role as general manager. Elway vowed that a Manning comeback would deliver a championship to Denver. (Reuters / Alamy Stock Photo)

Every pass an exercise in pain, Peyton still threw for a record 5,477 yards and 55 touchdowns with just 10 interceptions in 2013, winning his fifth MVP award and getting the Broncos to the Super Bowl. (Reuters / Alamy Stock Photo)

In 2015, breaking down to the point where he could barely feel the ball or move without buckling, Peyton missed the last six games, but returned for the playoffs. While the Broncos won mainly on defense, he made the plays he had to and beat his nemesis, Tom Brady, in the AFC title game, before winning his final game, Super Bowl 50. (Getty / Donald Miralle)