By By SCOTT NOVAK / Niles Daily Star
BENTON HARBOR – Super Bowl champion and Most Valuable Player Peyton Manning was funny, charming and every bit the southern gentleman Wednesday night at the Economic Club of Southwestern Michigan.
Manning played the role of a backup on Wednesday.
He was replacing starter Mikhail Gorbachev, who is still recovering from surgery.
Manning made an appearance at Lake Michigan College's Great Upton Hall in the Mendel Center.
Manning opened the program with a joke and kept people laughing for most of the evening as he spoke of the "journey" he took to becoming the Super Bowl MVP.
The "journey" began with a play his freshman season at the University of Tennessee.
Manning was thrown into a game at UCLA when the starting quarterback got hurt on the seventh play of the game, and back-up Todd Helton, who is better known for his baseball skills, went in for a time.
"I think Todd had that signing bonus on his mind, he wasn't real excited about being in there either," Manning joked.
The Volunteers, who were ranked No. 8 in the country, were trailing the unranked Bruins 21-0 at the Rose Bowl in front of a national television audience. The coach came to Manning and told him he was going in.
"I didn't think I was very nervous, but I looked down and all the hair on my arms was just sticking straight up," he recalled.
Manning ran into the huddle and he remembered some advice his father Archie, who played quarterback 15 years for the New Orleans Saints, had gave him.
"He said son, if you ever get into the huddle with the starters at any time during the season, it may be in the fourth quarter of a blow out, it does not matter," Manning said. "It's your job to be the leader, to be the quarterback, and go in there and take control of that huddle. That is your job.
"So I remembered old dad's advice," he continued, "and I walked into that huddle and said 'alright guys, I know I'm just a freshman, but I can take us down the field right now and get us a touchdown and get us back into this game.' The big left tackle, Jason Layman, about 6-5, 330-pounds grabs me by the shoulder and says 'hey freshman, shut the blank up and call the blanking play.' And I said, yes sir. That was great advice by my dad."
Manning then quoted an African proverb that says, "while you are preparing to go on a journey, you own it. But after you start it, the journey owns you."
Manning described 10 lessons that he learned which affected the person he became.
Once he completed those 10 lessons, Manning took questions from the audience for approximately half an hour. Questions ranged from who his parent's favorite quarterback was (his brother Cooper because he has the grand kids) to his advice about what you have to give up when you play college athletics.
Manning was quick on his feet and used his self-deprecating humor to keep the audience in stitches.