“My favorite Peyton Manning story? That’s like picking your favorite movie.”: When former Indianapolis Colts TE Dallas Clark reminisced about the hilarious pranks that The Sheriff would pull on teammates and coaches

If the recent ManningCast has shown us anything about Peyton Manning, it’s that he certainly has a humorous side. Throughout his career, he became well-known for the pranks he would orchestrate. 

Being the best comes with its privileges. Right from his rookie season, Peyton Manning took control of locker rooms and dominated the competition on game-days.

The respect he garnered from teammates and coaches alike meant that he had the freedom to occasionally pull some harmless pranks on them. Whether it was tricking a long snapper into dancing for a Thanksgiving turkey or taking out all the furniture from his backup’s room, Manning always made his practical jokes memorable.

In fact, when the Indy Star did a special piece on The Sheriff in 2017, they asked Dallas Clark for his favorite Peyton Manning story. Clark, who was a TE with the Colts fro 2003-11, eventually settled on a crazy prank that Manning organized years ago.

When Peyton Manning got a golf cart stuck in the middle of a pond

“My favorite Peyton story? That’s like picking your favorite movie,” Clark initially exclaimed at the request. “But it’s been a few years since he retired, so I think the statute of limitations has expired and I’m allowed to tell this story. As the years went on, training camp became known for pranking.”

“It was kind of fun being one of the elder statesmen. We’d do all kinds of stuff to the rookies or guys on the staff. We’re at Rose-Hulman (Institute of Technology) one year in Terre Haute, and they had this pond right in the middle of the quad. And there was this raft in the middle of the pond.”

“One night, we’re coming back from eating supper, and someone kind of mentions, “Man, how awesome would it be to put someone’s golf cart on that raft?” We all drove golf carts around campus every year at camp. Everyone had one with their name on it. Peyton gets an idea.”

“So a few days later, a couple of the offensive linemen get in the pond, drag this raft to the shore, put a golf cart on it and drag it back to the middle of the lake. It was a staff member’s cart, but I won’t say who.”

“This guy wakes up the next morning and sees his golf cart, sitting there, in the middle of the pond. We all just lost it. Peyton? He may or may have not been the commander in chief of that one.”

Also read: “I wanted to be a running back or a receiver”: Joe Burrow reveals that he was not interested in playing quarterback growing up