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Issue Date: October 6, 2002
A Tradition of Giving
We searched America for great athletes who are good sports on and off the field. The two best? They play different games, but they represent the same heartland city.
By Dennis McCafferty
The two biggest sports personalities in Indianapolis -- Peyton Manning of the NFL's Colts and Reggie Miller of the NBA's Pacers -- stroll into Conseco Fieldhouse, one of pro basketball's most celebrated venues. True to the region's tradition-rich sporting culture, Conseco is built like  an old-style hoops mecca. A hand-operated board posts out-of-town scores; a breathtaking, high-arching window stretches above the entire court; and a mural displays the proud history of Indiana basketball, highlighting moments such as Milan High's state championship in 1954 (which inspired the 1986 movie Hoosiers). "They didn't miss a beat when they built this place," says Manning, a Pacers fan. "Not a thing. Every detail is perfect."
Manning and Miller also know a lot about getting things right, which has earned them USA WEEKEND Magazine's 2002 Most Caring Athlete Award. As with their meticulous approach to their professions -- Manning, for example, practices with his wide receivers for two hours a day in the off-season, each day spent perfecting just one play -- they believe that performing good works is all in the details.
In doing so, they honor another Indiana tradition: Those who experience good fortune are generous with others. Hoosiers making more than $1 million a year give 5.6% of their income to charity, well over the U.S. average of 4.3%, according to The Chronicle of Philanthropy. USA WEEKEND readers have been inspired by many heartfelt accounts of Make A Difference Day projects in Indiana each year, including these from last October: Eighteen volunteers from LaGrange Community Hospital emergency room services built a wheelchair ramp at the home of a 78-year-old amputee in Wolcottville. And in the town of Peru, snow didn't stop the First Church of Christ from giving away garbage bags full of clothes and toys to 250 needy families.
Likewise, Manning and Miller essentially have served as human spark plugs of goodwill, and they often get by with a little help from each other, "swapping out" autographed balls and jerseys to raise funds at their respective auctions. "We're the two most visible athletes in this community," Miller says, "so we can combine these strengths to do the most good at each other's events. Besides, when it comes to being active with this community, Peyton is the genuine deal."
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Peyton Manning
If the story of Peyton Manning, 26, were a predictable, less inspiring one, it would read like this: Boy is raised by football-obsessed, former NFL quarterback dad. He's force-fed a diet of protein shakes and endures three-hour workouts starting at age 4. He never tastes a cheeseburger. Existing within the narrowest view of sport, he makes millions of dollars but remains unaware and, more sadly, uninterested in the world outside of pro ball.
Fortunately, that story doesn't describe Peyton Manning. A born jock? Maybe. But he's spent his life contradicting the stereotype of the self-absorbed athlete. In high school, he made an effort to know every classmate's name. Making millions in pro football? Sure, but Peyton Manning is giving back more than his fair share. Famous football dad? Yep. His father, Archie Manning, is a local hero in New Orleans, where he quarterbacked the Saints from 1971 to 1982. But he never pushed his three sons into football. Heck, growing up in New Orleans' Garden District, Manning never played in an organized league until seventh grade. "And my mom makes one fine cheeseburger," Manning says.
But Archie and Olivia Manning did lay down one rule for their son: Commit to something -- anything -- and you commit 100%.
So when Peyton Manning took a musical theater class in eighth grade, he learned to tango for The Boy Friend. At the University of Tennessee, he made a multimillion-dollar gamble by staying for four years, even though he was a lock for a big-time NFL contract if he left early. Even though he'd already graduated as a junior -- Phi Beta Kappa, no less.
"With a father like mine, people wanted to see if I would mess up somehow," says Manning, who has been named to the Pro Bowl for two of his four completed NFL seasons. "But we were brought up better. Once we gave people our word that we'd be a part of something, we gave it our all."
It's no surprise, then, that he approaches his foundation work with the same level of dedication. Manning and his corporate sponsors finance nearly 100% of his foundation's expenses. Only 3 years old, his PeyBack Foundation already gives out more than $100,000 a year, staging dozens of charity efforts, mainly for disadvantaged children.
"We don't set out to solve all the world's problems right away," Manning says. "But our work is catching on. We're now able to reach out to more and more people. That's what I want to build upon."
After joining the Colts in 1998, Manning met with top civic leaders in Indianapolis and asked where he could make the greatest impact. They told him many public school football fields were worn, and the players had to wear different jersey colors on the same team because they couldn't afford uniforms with school insignias. Manning launched his annual PeyBack Classic to benefit those high school programs. Held in September, the classic is a day-long football event in which eight area teams get to play in the RCA Dome downtown. In two years, the games have raised more than $120,000 for area public school sports programs.
But Manning says it's more than the money: "It's a confidence issue. Especially when the kids show up at high school games against schools that can afford nice uniforms. When they play in the RCA Dome for one afternoon, it's their day to play in an NFL arena. It's their day to be just like a real pro football player."
For more information or to contribute: Call 877-873-9225; send e-mail to PeyBack@peytonmanning.com; click on peytonmanning.com; or write to PeyBack Foundation, 201 S. Capitol Ave., Suite 1200, Indianapolis, Ind. 46225-1069.
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Reggie Miller
What in the world is Reggie Miller doing? At age 37, he has committed to playing for the U.S. national team in the 2002 World Basketball Championship in Indianapolis. It requires weeks of extensive travel, practices and games at no compensation. Still, there Miller is, sweating out practices with players at least a decade younger. After a recent session wraps up, two dozen media people rush to him: Why are you doing this, Reggie? You have nothing left to prove.
Miller just shrugs and smiles. "I have more to learn," he says, "and I have more to teach.''
And teach he does -- not just the younger NBA players there, but a group of 75 disadvantaged middle school kids who are ushered in after practice for an informal clinic. "Don't get discouraged when you miss, because everybody misses," says Miller, the NBA's all-time three-point shooter, with 2,217 such shots made. "When I shoot, I pretend I'm in a tall phone booth, trying to shoot it out of the top of the booth. That way, I'm forced to shoot up high, with a good arch to the shot that can't be blocked."
He's so animated with the kids, you forget Reggie Miller gets his kicks on the court by playing the bad guy. He wrote the book on wearing the black hat, as co-author of I Love Being the Enemy: A Season on the Court With the NBA's Best Shooter and Sharpest Tongue in 1995. His on-court jawing with filmmaker and New York Knicks devotee Spike Lee is a perennial ESPN highlight. But when it comes to his deeds, Miller keeps quiet. He doesn't tell team officials what he's doing. He doesn't assemble TV crews to follow him when he holds basketball camps for disadvantaged kids -- camps for which he has personally picked up and taken home young participants if their parents' work schedules didn't allow them to do so themselves.
On this day, he has agreed to speak with USA WEEKEND about his foundation, if only to draw public attention to the focus: children in need. He's very clear that if publicity can boost resources toward a specific fund-raising event, he allows cameras. But after the fact, when the dollars raised are put to work at one of those camps, then Miller works in private. "You shouldn't put these kids and their lives on display," he says. "Especially if the only person who benefits is you and your image."
He does things his way. Instead of staging a charity golfing tournament -- it's such a cliché, Miller reasons, and besides, "I'm not a particularly good golfer" -- he puts on the annual Reggie Bowl, a charity bowling competition that has landed celebrities like 'N Sync's Chris Kirkpatrick. The proceeds benefit several efforts for burn victims, including the children's burn unit at Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis. Miller took up these young victims' cause after his own house burned down in 1997. (He wasn't home at the time.) The bowling tournament has helped the foundation raise $500,000 in the past three years.
And when the events of Sept. 11, 2001, put the heated Pacers-Knicks rivalry in perspective, Miller pledged $1,000 for every three-pointer he made, from preseason through postseason, to the New York September 11th Relief Fund, raising $206,000. "Like everyone, I was wondering what I could do to help out," Miller says. "All the musicians made music. As for me, I do know how to hit the three-pointer."
So, are New York fans cutting him a break these days?
"Naaah," Miller says with a smile. "They are die-hard fans, you know."
For more information or to contribute: Write to Reggie Miller Foundation, Attn. Gail D'Agostino, 11911 San Vicente Blvd., Suite 325, Los Angeles, Calif. 90049. Or send e-mail to aildag@aol.com.
Past recipients of the Most Caring Athlete Award include Andre Agassi and Alonzo Mourning. Manning and Miller each will receive $5,000 for their charities.
Cover and cover story photographs by Brad Trent for USA WEEKEND
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