Peyton Manning speaks in Little Rock last night!!! I have a lot of respect for him although the only time I got to see him play his team lost the game in 1996 in Memphis.

Manning’s main message: It takes talent, hard work

By Troy Schulte

This article was published today at 4:21 a.m.

Tyler Scaife was a little nervous about her second meeting with Peyton Manning.

The last time Scaife talked with the 12-time Pro Bowl quarterback was last fall in Knoxville, Tenn., when the Little Rock Hall graduate was on a recruiting trip to the University of Tennessee. She said the meeting was brief and that Manning made a pitch for Scaife, rated at the time as one of the top high school point guards in the country, to choose to play for the Lady Volunteers.

Of course, Scaife spurned the school Manning attended and chose to sign with Rutgers.

“A little bit,” Scaife said with a laugh regarding the nervousness she felt Saturday night.

As it turned out, there were no hard feelings.

Manning was the featured speaker at the first All-Arkansas Preps awards banquet held at the Statehouse Convention Center. He shook hands and posed for a picture with Scaife, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette’s girls basketball player of the year, and other players who received such honors in their respective sports.

Manning also made a short speech that centered on humility in front of the 300 or so athletes and 1,100 others in attendance.

Each of the athletes assembled has talent, Manning said, but he told them somewhere along the way they will run into somebody with a little bit more.

“Talent is a gift,” Manning said. “Hard work is a choice.”

Manning, 37, is preparing for his 15th season in the NFL, his second with the Denver Broncos. He arrived Friday in Little Rock after finishing up team obligations with the Broncos, spent the day with Keith Jackson, who served as emcee of Saturday’s event, and then addressed a variety of topics Saturday night.

Manning spoke about 45 minutes, taking questions from Jackson and some of the high school athletes.

Among the more amusing topics Manning addressed during the question-and-answer session were :

Playing against the Arkansas Razorbacks during his college days as the starting quarterback for the Tennessee Volunteers: “That Arkansas secondary was always so nice to me.”

On how he assigns rookie teammates movies such as Caddyshack, Vacation and Stripes to watch in their free time: “They watched them, but they didn’t think they were really funny. It makes me feel old.”

On who would win a foot race between he and his brother Eli, the starting quarterback for the New York Giants: “Nobody wants to see that race.”

On how he prepares teammates for when they against Eli, which the Broncos will do Week 2 this season: “It’s hard to say, ‘You gotta get after my little brother.’ I’ll say it, but it’s hard.”

On the Broncos’ signing former New England Patriots wide receiver Wes Welker: “Anything that makes our team better and the Patriots worse, I’m for it.”

Athletes and coaches also mingled at tables with others from different sports and different corners of the state, an opportunity they don’t often get.

“I recognize some of these guys from some of their pictures in the newspaper and also on the TV,” said Greenwood Coach Rick Jones, who was named coach of the year. “It’s cool to see some of these guys. They’re great athletes.”

One of them was Drew Morgan, whom Jones coached at Greenwood.

Morgan played quarterback, running back, wide receiver, defensive back and returned kicks while helping the Bulldogs to the Class 6A state championship in December and earning player of the year honors for football.

One of Manning’s final bits of wisdom was directed at Morgan, who said Saturday he expects to play offense when he begins his career at the University of Arkansas this fall ..

“Embrace college for what it is,” Manning told the athletes. “It was the best four years of my life.”

Morgan, who reported to Arkansas earlier this week for summer classes and workouts, said he intends to do so and that he’s hoping to follow a similar path as Manning.

“Hall of Fame quarterback, a soon-to-be Hall of Fame receiver,” Morgan said. “I’ve got goals, and he set the path.

“I’m ready to follow him, just at a different position.”

Sports, Pages 28 on 06/02/2013

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