Joining legendary Giant Charlie Conerly on list of retired numbers is big for Eli Manning and his family

Eli Manning had never fully understood why being a Giant — let alone playing his entire career with the Giants — would resonate so profoundly in the Manning family.

Long before his iconic escape from the Patriots’ pass rush in Super Bowl XLII and subsequent heave to David Tyree to complete the most unlikely passing play in NFL history, he didn’t get it.

It was only after he first came to the Giants as a result of a blockbuster draft-day trade in 2004 that Archie Manning, his famous football father, explained the connection to a long-ago Giants quarterback’s career in New York.

"My dad grew up listening to the Giants on the radio just because of Charlie Conerly," Eli Manning said. "Charlie Conerly was a great quarterback and played for Ole Miss and came to the New York Giants and played his 15 years with the Giants at quarterback. I just kind of didn’t know all those things really until a bit later, until I got to the Giants and got to talk to him about that and hear some of the stories and learn a little bit more about his playing career with the Giants."

And Archie Manning has some stories. My goodness, does he have some stories.

"My dad liked to follow football, and he didn’t go to Ole Miss or Mississippi State," Archie said from his home in New Orleans. "It was a small town where he grew up, 2,000 people in a farming town in the Mississippi delta. My dad ran a farm machinery place, and he pulled for Mississippi State and Ole Miss. And basically who he rooted for in all sports, the teams that were his favorite teams were the ones that had Mississippi players on them."

There may have been no more beloved pro team in Archie’s household than the Giants. Conerly had that kind of impact on the family, and Archie inherited his dad’s love for the quarterback.

"We didn’t get the Giants games on TV, but he particularly liked the New York Giants in football," Archie said. "It was primarily because of Charlie Conerly. I just remember him being so crazy about him."

Conerly lived in Clarksville, Mississippi, about 30 miles from the Manning home in Drew, and owned some local shoe stores called "Charlie Conerly’s Shoes." After his NFL career, the Giants’ legendary No. 42 became the "Marlboro Man," appearing in the iconic television commercials for the cigarette company.

"Charlie came to Drew for something connected to Marlboro, he was at the community center speaking, and my dad took me up there to meet him," Archie said.

When Archie grew up and attended Conerly’s alma mater at Ole Miss, he started off on the freshman team.

"First day, you went to this desk to get your number for the freshman team, and I said, ‘How about 42?’ " Archie recalled. " ‘[The equipment manager] said, ‘How about 15?’ "

The next year, Archie got No. 18. He was on the way to college football stardom and eventually saw his number retired.

Eli followed in his father’s footsteps at Ole Miss, and Conerly, who died in 1996, was there in spirit. Eli twice won the Charlie Conerly Award as the best football player in Mississippi before leaving for the NFL.

And now Archie will be at MetLife Stadium on Sunday to see his son’s uniform No. 10 retired. Eli will be celebrated with his Ring of Honor induction at halftime of the Giants’ game against the Falcons. He’ll join No. 42 as one of 13 retired numbers in franchise history.

"I think it’s pretty neat, the kind of similarities that Charlie Conerly and I had," Eli said.

Manning lasted one more year than Conerly did, with the 2019 season his 16th and final in a Giants uniform. Manning knew his time was up at age 38, especially with the Giants ready to move on with his successor, Daniel Jones, the sixth overall pick in 2019.

"I knew I was done, and I wasn’t going to second-guess," he said. "I wasn’t going to look back and worry about it. I knew that I was ready to be done playing football, and when I look back on my time, I was just going to reflect on the good moments and the happy moments and the friendships I made, the wins we got to celebrate, and remember those things."

He also knew he couldn’t take any more of the losing. After Manning was named Super Bowl MVP for the second time after the 2011 season, the Giants got back to the playoffs only once, and the emotional wear and tear of losing finally got to him.

Might he have considered a comeback elsewhere after he had gotten a chance to recharge after a year off?

"No, I don’t think so," he said. "You’ve seen a few guys take the year off and come back, but there was no interest in coming back. I saw the hits that quarterbacks were taking, and I said I do not want to experience that anymore. I like how I feel every Monday morning when I wake up."

But it was more than just the physical toll.

"I enjoyed the preparation, and I could have gotten back into that part, but just the losing, just the grind of it all," he said. "I think I don’t know if I could have totally gotten back into all of that. The losses hurt more. They affect your sleep. They affect your week. It affects family life with my wife and kids, and it just got too much.

"I like watching the games and I root for the Giants, and I feel for them after a loss. But you know what? I go to bed very easily on Sunday nights and wake up and feel good about the upcoming week. It’s not something that lingers for three or four days like it used to."

Manning won’t look back with regret, but there surely will be a twinge of nostalgia as he takes the field to receive one of the greatest honors in sports. He’ll have his wife and four children there and parents Archie and Olivia, too, all to celebrate one of the great careers in franchise history.

It also will be a fitting tribute to another Giants legend who perhaps will be looking down from wherever he might be.

"The name Charlie Conerly has meant a lot to Eli," Archie said. "He always collected anything he could find [connected] to him. He bought pieces of art and some other things that were Charlie’s."

Eli also named his fourth child — his only son — Charlie.

"All the names of our grandchildren are family-related," Archie said. "When Eli and Abby were having a boy, they said they named him Charlie. I don’t ask why did you name him Charlie, but a lot of Ole Miss people ask me. I say to Eli, ‘A lot of Ole Miss people are asking me, and they think you named your son after Charlie Conerly.’ He said, ‘That’s OK.’ "

Eli said nothing more, and to this day he won’t tell his father if he named his son after the Giants’ legendary quarterback. Eventually, Archie will get that answer, especially as he gets to know his grandson, who is just 2.

"Charlie [Conerly] had a nickname, ‘Roach,’ " Archie said. "I said to Eli, ‘Are you gonna call him ‘Roach?’ "

Eli just smiled, Archie recalled.

"I’ve got to get to know Charlie better, and I might call him ‘Roach,’ " Archie said of his grandson. "But if I do call him ‘Roach,’ it’s going to be between me and him. I’m not going to let Abby hear it."

For now, the Manning family legacy will center on Eli one more time.

"It’s mighty special," Archie said. "Some teams have but three or four numbers retired. The Giants have 13. It’s even more special for me to see Eli by those 13 — besides Charlie Conerly — because those names mean so much."

There will be one more glorious wave from Eli to the fans who came to adore him for his excellence, for his championships and for his toughness. That’s the legacy he hopes to leave behind.

"Just the fact that [I] was there week-in and week-out and never miss a game because of injury or anything else," Manning said. "There’s only so much you can control playing football. You cannot control the outcome of every single game. There’s too many things that are out of your control, but you can control your desire and your heart and your willingness to do whatever it takes to be there for your team, for your organization and for your teammates."

By Bob Glauber

Special to NewsdayBobGlauber

Bob Glauber retired in 2022 after covering the NFL for nearly 40 years. He was selected in 2021 for the Bill Nunn Career Achievement Award by the Pro Football Writers of America, and is a three-time winner of the New York State Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. President of the PFWA for the 2018-20 seasons, he is the author of “The Forgotten First” and “Guts and Genius.”