Cooper, the original Manning football star

Cooper Manning is Archie Manning’s oldest son — older than Peyton by three years and older than Eli by seven. He was a standout wide receiver at Isidore Newman School in New Orleans. Peyton, as a high school freshman quarterback, threw passes to Cooper at Newman during their two years of varsity overlap (1991-92).

Cooper signed with Ole Miss in spring 1992 and arrived on campus that summer. During fall practice his freshman year, he experienced numbness in his fingertips during a routine catching drill. The Ole Miss medical staff diagnosed congenital spinal stenosis — a narrowing of the spinal canal — and recommended he stop playing football permanently to avoid catastrophic injury. He did. Surgery in 1993 fused vertebrae in his neck.

Peyton's #18 starts at Tennessee

Peyton arrived at Tennessee in summer 1994 after considering Ole Miss (where his father Archie had starred and where Cooper was supposed to play). Tennessee head coach Phillip Fulmer asked Peyton what number he wanted; Peyton chose #18 — Cooper’s number at Ole Miss. He wore it through his entire Volunteers career (1994-97).

When the Indianapolis Colts drafted Peyton #1 overall in 1998, he asked for #18. Then-Colts equipment manager Jon Scott pulled the number from the team’s available list. The Colts had not retired any number in honor of #18 — Bill Brooks (1986-92) had been a productive wideout in 18, but the team kept the number active. Peyton wore it for 14 seasons in Indy.

From Indy to Denver to two retired #18s

After the Colts released Peyton in March 2012 following his neck surgery and missed 2011 season, he signed with the Denver Broncos. The Broncos had previously honored Frank Tripucka — their starting QB from 1960-63 — by retiring #18. Tripucka, then 84 years old, called the Broncos and asked them to un-retire it for Peyton; Manning went to visit Tripucka at his New Jersey home before agreeing to wear it. Tripucka died in 2013, having attended one Broncos home game with Peyton playing in #18.

Both the Colts and Broncos retired #18 after Peyton’s 2016 retirement. Peyton remains the only player in modern NFL history with two franchises retiring the same number for him. Cooper Manning serves as the public face of the Manning family business operations and hosts a podcast about football; he and Peyton remain the closest among the three brothers.

Background facts cross-referenced with the Wikipedia article on Peyton Manning and Pro-Football-Reference / Basketball-Reference public records. Lead image via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0).