Manning, who turns 40 next month, just completed his 18th National Football League season with a 24-10 win over the Carolina Panthers in the Super Bowl.
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That light has somewhat dimmed now.
There have been several sexual assault complaints against Volunteers student-athletes over the last four years, but the incident that drew the most notice last week occurred two decades ago and involved former Tennessee quarterback Peyton Manning.
The public didn’t necessarily need King’s partisan hatchet-job, with the predictably tabloid-y headline of “Peyton Manning’s squeaky-clean image was built on lies”, to do it – Manning’s case has also been cited in a new lawsuit against the University of Tennessee alleging a violation of Title IX rights and a rampant, system-wide culture of sexual harassment.
Naughright later sued Manning for defamation after he, in a book, described the alleged assault against her as a “crude, maybe, but harmless” incident in which he “dropped the seat of my pants” and “mooned” another athlete.
UltraViolet is calling for Nationwide Insurance and Papa John’s Pizza to suspend their business relationships with the Denver Broncos quarterback after a lawsuit was filed this week against the University of Tennessee that named Manning as part of a culture of sexual harassment on campus. Athletic trainer Jamie Naughright was evaluating the then-19-year-old when he allegedly placed his exposed genitals on her head. The Title IX lawsuit says Manning had “sat on her face” while she was assessing the extent of an injury. “The 74-page document is something that was written by the lawyers representing Jamie Ann Naughright in her defamation case against the Mannings”.
Shortly after the released of documents for alleged scandal, Sports Illustrated also released separate file from Manning’s camp. The NFL is investigating a December report from Al Jazeera America in which Manning is accused of involvement with a performance enhancing drug, human growth hormone.
Manning denied the trainer’s claims, saying he was simply “mooning” another athlete who was in the room.
Neither Peyton Manning nor the University of Tennessee responded to ABC News’ request for comment. A document in which Naughright’s attorneys laid out their side of the story.
There is a legal settlement between Naughright and Manning. Instead of airing out the issues that may have existed, they went full “politics of personal destruction” on Dr. Naughright’s character and credibility. There is evidence of record to suggest that there were obvious reasons to doubt the veracity of Peyton Manning’s account of the incident in question.
Whether or not Peyton Manning did or did not do this disgraceful act and whether or not he, his family, and the University of Tennessee willingly got Mrs. Naughright fired and ruined her name is a discussion far beyond the knowledge of anybody not directly related to the matter.
Naughright claimed the Mannings violated the confidentiality agreement of the settlement reached in lieu of the incidents in 1994 and 1996.
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To the surprise of no one with even a passing familiarity with Peyton Manning and the National Football League, the quarterback is poised to be highly in demand as a studio or game analyst for all of the networks that broadcast the National Football League once he officially retires as an active player.
