Note: This essay is part of Mississippi Today Ideas, a new platform for thoughtful Mississippians to share fact-based ideas about our state’s past, present and future. You can read more about the section here. This week, Children’s Hospital of New Orleans changed its name to Manning Family Children’s hospital.
I really do love Mississippi — all of it. Although my family has lived for more than 50 years in New Orleans, we still have a house in Oxford, and we have so many close friends all over the state.
Where to begin? I grew up in Drew, went to college at Ole Miss in Oxford, and married a gal from Philadelphia. Over the years, seems like I have spent time in every nook and cranny of the Magnolia State. William Faulkner once said that to understand the world, you must first understand a place like Mississippi. While I don’t necessarily always understand it — not all of it — I do know that I love the place. It’s home.
For me, growing up in Drew was much like Opie Taylor growing up in Mayberry. Drew was a little, bitty place, but it had everything we needed. Everybody knew everybody. As kids, we rode our bikes all over town. We played ball every day, went to football games on Friday night, went to Sunday school and church on Sunday. Our house was right across the street from the school, so I didn’t have to go far to find a game. For me, Drew was absolutely perfect.
And so was Ole Miss where I played football and baseball, met the love of my life and mother of my three boys, and where I made some of the best and most loyal friends anyone could ever imagine.
But my love of Mississippi doesn’t end with Drew or Oxford. Olivia, my wife, is from Philadelphia where her family has owned and operated Williams Brothers General Store since 1907. I would challenge anyone to find anything more Mississippi than Williams Brothers, where you can buy anything from cowboy boots and running shoes to freshly sliced hoop cheese to bacon.
Just down state Highway 19 from Philadelphia is Meridian, one of Mississippi’s largest cities and a place I’ve always loved to visit. Olivia and I had our rehearsal dinner at Weidmann’s, then owned by Mississippi State football great Shorty McWilliams. Shorty Mac twice finished in the top 10 in Heisman Trophy voting, once at Army and once at State. Shorty Mac was one of Mississippi’s football greats. And while we’re at it, I can’t tell you how I swell with pride about Mississippi’s football heritage. You’ve got Shorty Mac from Meridian, Charlie Conerly from Clarksdale, Walter Payton from Columbia, Jake Gibbs from Grenada, Brett Favre from Kiln, Jerry Rice from just outside Starkville, Steve McNair from Mount Olive, Lance Alworth from Brookhaven, Willie Brown and Ben Williams from Yazoo City, and Lem Barney from Gulfport. I could go on and on, and, believe me, I do when I brag on Mississippi to football people around the country.
My first three New Orleans Saints training camps were held in Hattiesburg where I made so many friends that I have to this day. Training camps were a lot longer back then when we played six preseason games, but I always enjoyed Hattiesburg, even in that heat of July and August. A couple things I’ll always remember about those training camps: one, was the national guardsmen who would come up from Camp Shelby and watch our practices. It was always fun for me to visit with those guys. And, two, was that the Southern Miss players and coaches would always be around for the last week or 10 days of training camp and we’d share the practice fields, the weight room and the training table. I became friends with a lot of the guys I had played against in college.
So many of my Ole Miss buddies moved to Jackson and the Capital City area, so I have spent a great deal of time there. Plus, I’ll never forget our Ole Miss games in old Memorial Stadium. That’s where we played most of our biggest games and won most of our greatest victories. I have fond, fond memories of Jackson.
All my years in New Orleans, the Mississippi Gulf Coast has been right next door. I have enjoyed the Coast, from Bay St, Louis and Pass Christian, to Gulfport and Biloxi, and on over to Ocean Springs and Pascagoula. I had my annual golf tournament to raise money for cystic fibrosis research at the great golf courses all along the coast, and if there’s a booster club I haven’t spoken to, I’m not sure what it is. I love everything about the Coast – the restaurants, the golf courses, the Deep Sea fishing and that drive down Highway 90. My son, Cooper, has a home there in Bay St. Louis, along with so many New Orleans folks who have second homes in Hancock County. Coop can get from his home in New Orleans to his home in Bay St. Louis in less than a hour. That’s how close we are to Mississippi.
But as I go from place to place in Mississippi both in my travels and in my mind’s eye, I realize what I love most about my home state. It’s the people. There’s no place like Mississippi and no people like the folks in Mississippi.
Archie Manning, a native of Drew in the Mississippi Delta, lives in New Orleans. Manning played in the NFL from 1971 until 1984 and was selected to two pro bowls. He played his college football at the Ole Miss, where he was the Southeastern Conference player of the year in 1969 and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1989. While Manning lives in New Orleans, he has remained active in Mississippi, including participating in numerous philanthropic activities. Manning and his wife Olivia have three sons.
Editor’s note: Olivia and Archie Manning are Mississippi Today donors. Donors do not in any way influence our newsroom’s editorial decisions. For more on that policy or to view a list of our donors, click here.
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