From injuries, to HGH allegations, to rumors of retirement, and an eventual Super Bowl 50 championship with the Denver Broncos, its been a roller-coaster ride for the legendary National Football League quarterback.
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That light has somewhat dimmed now.
The suit cited almost a dozen instances dating back to the mid-1990s of former student athletes accused of sexual assault, including star quarterback Manning who won his second Super Bowl title earlier this month, with the Denver Broncos.
It’s his “gluteus maximus, the rectum, the testicles and the area between the testicles” as asserted by former University of Tennessee trainer Dr. Jamie Naughright, who claimed to have extensive knowledge of those areas of Manning’s anatomy after he put them, unwelcomed, upon her face.
King said a Google search showed that USA Today had written a news story and column about the lawsuit in 2003, but, in an era before social media, the articles had not “rocked the American sports world to its core”, as King wrote they would have had they appeared today.
The Mannings made up a story about Naughright calling other players expletives to corroborate the assertion in the book “Manning” that she “had a vulgar mouth”, and no one who was present corroborated this story under oath. According to the New York Daily News report, Rollo called Naughright the name because he believed her to be a lesbian.
Manning undoubtedly acted like an ass in 1996.
There will still be one question left to answer though, is Manning the best quarterback ever?
Polian perhaps doesn’t see the irony in referring to the folks at Tennessee who are accused of creating a “hostile sexual environment” as the same folks who provided such positive character reviews of Manning in the first place. There must be more to the story.
Problem was the teammate, Malcolm Saxon, denied Manning’s version. It’s been a story that has been mentioned in several reports, but the Daily News went in-depth while uncovering facts about the squeaky clean quarterback which painted a less than ideal picture of the recent Super Bowl Champion. “You can butt up to that line and cross that line, taking that final step saying, ‘I am moving on.’ Even if the first 99 percent are easy to get there, the last one percent is as hard as that first 99 percent”.
However, Naughright considered what happened sexual assault and subsequently took a leave of absence – something the university didn’t want connected to Manning.
– The Manning family, the school and the doctor reached a settlement and signed a confidentiality agreement.
In November 2003, a Florida judge ruled that there was sufficient evidence for a jury to hear Naughright’s defamation case.
In 1996, Peyton Manning exposed himself to a female trainer.
Naughright settled her suit with the university and eventually sued Peyton Manning twice for violating the gag order, still claiming he was mooning another man and never once admitting that he made half the athletic department wear his scrotum as a top hat at the slightest whim.
Manning has remained silent in the aftermath of the latest developments regarding a 13-year-old document in a 14-year-old lawsuit regarding a 20-year-old incident that occurred when Manning was 19 years old.
Universities covering for their student athletes is not a new trend.
“This is probably a good time for brands like Nationwide and Papa John’s Pizza to perhaps downplay their connection with Manning“, said Roy. “Not to disassociate their relationship with him altogether because he hasn’t been found guilty of anything”, Roy said.
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The NFL won’t touch this with a 100-foot pole but the Mannings have become legendary for wanting things all their own way.
