Peyton Manning’s squeaky clean image is on the brink of being tarnished forever with new allegations of possible sexual harassment during his college days at Tennessee. The allegations stem from the athletic trainer at the time, Jamie Naughright, who accused Manning, as well as other players, of repeatedly sexually harassing her and creating a “sexually hostile environment.” How could Peyton Manning have done this, you may ask? Perhaps the legendary Colts turned Bronco quarterback has a past that is catching up with him.

Earlier this year, before the Super Bowl, another scary accusation hit Peyton Manning. Al-Jazeera reported that Manning had HGH supplements shipped to his house under his wife’s name during his neck surgery recovery. While this story was publicly denied by Peyton Manning and at first refuted by Al-Jazeera, as more details were revealed surrounding the case, the situation got murkier. According to Charlie Sly, the author of the scathing story, Manning hired thugs to go to his (Sly’s) parents’ house and threaten them to make Sly publicly say the story was made up. Sly did refute his own story, but later, after revealing the mischief behind the hired thugs, said once again his story was true. Due to this report, the NFL has decided to file a “comprehensive” investigation into Peyton Manning and if HGH was really sent to his house to help him recover faster, giving him an unfair advantage. This saga is eerily similar to the overblown “deflategate” scandal the NFL investigated last year after a Colts player felt a Patriots ball was underinflated. This led to an investigation, as well as a “witch hunt” for Tom Brady, as many people claimed. With this side of the Manning saga, it may merely be another witch hunt.

However, the latest allegations seem to hold a lot more merit. Naughright alleges that Manning “pulled his pants down and exposed himself to [her], as [she] was bent over examining his foot after asking [her] several questions.” Due to multiple incidents with other players on the Tennessee football team, Naughright decided to sue the University under a Title XI lawsuit stating that the University had not done enough to punish and outlaw this kind of behavior. The lawsuit was settled and the players were not punished.

Despite having 27 different cases of harassment against her, the Tennessee’s Office of Diversity Resources and Educational Resources (DRES) never deemed any of them “sexual in nature.” While some may deem this as a young man’s foolishness, it is far more serious than that. The fact that Manning could have been a part of and helped harbor an environment like the one described would bring irreparable damage to his reputation as a quarterback and a man of moral standards. The Mannings apparently seemed to notice this too. In 2002 there was a defamation suit filed against Manning by Naughtright, this suit was essentially covered up by the Manning’s to protect their star child and keep it from the public to keep his reputation safe. However, the fact that this is all surfacing now, with the cover up included, is even more damaging than it ever could have been.  Only time will tell if these allegations are as bad as they have been made out to be.

http://deadspin.com/how-tennessee-s-sexual-harassment-allegations-caught-up-1759118435

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/inside-peyton-mannings-secret-investigation-into-al-jazeera-documentary/2016/02/04/d0da2f04-cb05-11e5-a7b2-5a2f824b02c9_story.html