Say what you will about Peyton Manning — some love him, some love to hate him — it’s well-known that I am by no means even close to being a fan of the Manning family as a whole. I’m nowhere even close to being in Peyton’s corner. He’s quite the fan favorite right now, possibly announcing his retirement by March 9, 2016, and current Super Bowl champion. His stats are through the roof and many ESPN experts refer to him as one of the “GOATs” (Greatest Of All Time). So what’s there to hate about this poster boy, All-American good guy?
He’s gotten through the NFL with his character seemingly unblemished with the exception of Human Growth Hormone (HGH) allegations late in his career, but if you dig deeper into the well-hidden history of Peyton Manning you would find a dark past that includes a sexual assault case from his time at The University of Tennessee. So why is this JUST breaking when he’s played in the NFL for 14 seasons? People obviously just want to hate on a winning quarterback in the end of his career, right? That’s just it, it’s not “just” breaking and it isn’t just people trying to tear down a quarterback because they don’t like him.
Who is the accuser? Who would try to tarnish the Mannings' good name?
Dr. Jamie Naughright is a renowned and respected athletic trainer who has been requested by some of the top athletes in the world to travel with them as they compete in things like the Olympics. She has been a lecturer and an active part in some of the best-acclaimed educational and medical programs.
Let’s rewind a little bit:
In 1996, Peyton Manning was involved in an alleged sexual assault at the University of Tennessee where Naughright (then Jamie Whited) had worked for the athletic training program helping athletes everywhere from women’s sports (which she interned for as an undergrad in 1989) to the football team. As the director of the university’s health and wellness program, Naughright was examining a possible stress fracture in Manning’s foot. What happened next is criminal. Peyton Manning proceeded to scoot down the training table until he forcefully sat on her head exposing her to his naked rectum and testicles. This is where we need to understand that this story isn’t just now being reported. Hours after the assault occurred, Naughright reported it to the Sexual Assault Crisis Center in Knoxille.
According to court documents, which conveniently have details and specific pages removed, Manning repeatedly denied the allegations saying he merely mooned a teammate, Malcolm Saxon, who made fun of his now wife and had no idea that Naughright even saw the incident. Saxon eventually lost his NCAA eligibility over the incident and in an affidavit claimed that Manning never, in fact, mooned him. Saxon wrote a letter to Manning basically begging Manning to take responsibility and “come clean” about the incident. Many believe Manning’s side of the story is a blatant lie, but fans take the meaning deeply when they say they “ride hard” for their sports hero. After all, it was a he said-she said fight between Naughright, a respected staff member of the university, and manning Manning, the star quarterback who saved Tennessee football, a Heisman hopeful, and looking to be the No. 1 NFL Draft pick.
As a result, the university asked Naughright to leave while Peyton Manning was slapped on the wrist by being disallowed to eat from campus dining halls and to get up every day at 6 a.m. to run for a couple of weeks. Before leaving the school in 2007, two representatives of whom Naughright names as Mr. Wyant and Mr. Rollo asked her if she would reconsider blaming Manning and instead blame a different student athlete- an African American athlete to which she refused. Naughright also accounts a few occasions in which Manning reenacted the scene with other Tennessee trainers and verbally abused her before she formally left her position at Tennessee.
Upon leaving Tennessee, a confidentiality agreement was signed between Naughright and Manning stating that they should not discuss it. Surely that’s where it ended, right? Wrong! In 2001, Manning evidently violated the agreement when Naughright returned from a trip to South Africa to find a manila envelope on the door of her office at Florida Southern. Inside the envelope was what appeared to be a publication written by Manning titled “Dr. Vulgar Mouth Whited.” Her colleagues had already read it and it eventually ruined her career in working for collegiate athletics after controversy surrounding the case caused the college to release Naughright. In 2002, Naughright sued the Mannings for defamation of character and when asked (under oath) to recall a time that Naughright was vulgar, Manning could only think of one from a trip to Virginia expecting witnesses to have his back, once again no one seemed to vouch for the quarterback. In fact, the four witnesses claimed that they never heard Naughright speak in vulgar language. Under oath, many Tennessee staff members couldn’t recall a time that Naughright was ever vulgar and even though they claimed she was promiscuous, they had no evidence to back their statements. Manning suffered no consequences.
So why was this not talked about then? Why was this not spread around then? Because the power of social media had not yet been created. It would be years before Facebook or Twitter would even be thought about and stories like this weren’t hot topic. In other words: they didn’t care about the victim. In fact, when explaining Naughright to his father Archie, Peyton often described her as “an ugly woman with big breasts” who hung around with black men. A few more times Naughright was referred to as a lesbian and also a woman who only slept with black men. Why does any of that matter? A sexual assault is a sexual assault regardless of who you prefer in sexual partners. What matters is: Peyton Manning committed a crime!
When it comes down to it, there are plenty of world class athletes willing today many great things about Naughright and her contribution to multiple sports as an athletic trainer. She’s often been referred to as being very professional, caring, and full of compassion. Athletes and others who have known Naughright for years while traveling to over 80 events with her claim to have never heard a vulgar word come from her mouth.
If you think about victim shaming, remember that sexual orientation or preferences in sexual partners does not and never will condone a sexual assault. If you think about victim shaming remember that Naughright is someone’s daughter. Would you tell your daughter, mother, sister, niece, or any other female loved one of yours that she deserved what happened to her because she used vulgar language or because she preferred women or black men? Would you question why it was just now being talked about knowing that survivors of sexual assault go through plenty of emotional hurts coming to terms with their own situations and trying to find their voice- much less their voice against a hero in a sport that rules the nation? Probably not. Furthermore, would you tell your loved one that she was lucky to have had such experiences with a man because after all, he is Peyton Manning?
To me, Peyton Manning’s dynasty is built around disgusting lies and white privilege. Had this been any other athlete the consequences easily could have been much different. One thing remains true through the end of Manning’s career, though, he has a lot of scrutiny to face when it comes to HGH allegations and his alleged sexual assault coming back to haunt him after winning his second Super Bowl. Before you put someone on a pedestal, think about it: should your hero be your hero?
