Although Peyton Manning was 22 when he was drafted, he showcased signals of being a top athlete much earlier. According to a friend of his, Manning had a unique way of organizing his thoughts as an adolescent.
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Peyton Manning played 18 brilliant seasons in the NFL and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as soon as he was eligible. Prior to the ceremony a couple of months ago, which was attended by football royalty including Tom Brady and Bill Belichick, the LA Times sat down with 5 of Manning’s High School teammates.
They narrated all types of stories from Manning’s youth, which were later collated by Sam Farmer into a tribute of sorts to the Sheriff. Their anecdotes ranged from Peyton losing cool during a peewee basketball game to his legendary pranks, but they all mostly had one thing in common: examples of Manning’s incredible mentality.
Peyton Manning’s Sticky Notes
This is perhaps most clearly seen through a story narrated by one of his friends, Nate Stibbs. “Back in 1993, we didn’t have computers in class, nobody had iPhones,” Stibbs explained. “So whenever he had an idea, he would write it down on a little yellow sticky note.
“You’d go to his room at his house and he’d have 250 sticky notes all over his wall, just on little ideas that flashed into his mind that he didn’t want to forget about. So he kept a note and a pen in his pocket and he’d write it down. I always thought that was pretty incredible at that age to have that attention to detail.
“It could have been a homework assignment, something that popped into his mind. Something about watching game film or practice or preparation. It was all over the board.”
