This morning Gatorade has unveiled a new series of ‘Dear Peyton’ videos in which people who have crossed career paths with Peyton Manning read letters of gratitude that he sent them over the years. You don’t even have to like Peyton Manning one bit and this new spot from Gatorade will get you a little choked up.
Peyton Manning was notorious for sending hand-written letters to those closest to him throughout his career. Gatorade gathered together a select few of those lucky letter recipients, including his coaches, family and teammates. The entire video’s set to Bob Dylan’s 1964 classic, ‘The Times They Are a-Changin’, one of the greatest songs ever written and one that couldn’t be more apropos now that we live in a world where Peyton Manning is no longer an active NFL player.
Here’s a list of all the cameos in this video (in order of appearance):
Tony Dungy – Peyton’s Indianapolis Colts head coach, 2002-2008; Pro Football Hall of Fame Inductee; current NBC Analyst
Jon Scott – Peyton’s friend and current Indianapolis Colts Vice President of Equipment Operations
David Cutcliffe – Peyton’s quarterback coach at University of Tennessee, 1994-1997; current Duke Head Coach
Pam Frenzel – Mother of Tyler Frenzel; Peyton befriended Tyler – diagnosed with leukemia – during a visit to the Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital at St. Vincent in Indianapolis and remained in close contact with Tyler until his death in 2004 at age 9
Jeff Saturday – Peyton’s Indianapolis Colts teammate, 1999-2011; NFL center, 1992-2012
Eli Manning – Peyton’s brother; current New York Giants quarterback
Demaryius Thomas – Peyton’s Denver Broncos teammate, 2013-2016; current Denver Broncos receiver
Derek Jeter – Peyton’s friend; fellow Gatorade athlete; New York Yankees shortstop, 1995-2014
Brandon Stokley – Peyton’s Indianapolis Colts and Broncos teammate, 2003-2006 and 2012 respectively; NFL receiver, 1999-2013
Archie Manning – Peyton’s father; NFL Hall of Fame quarterback, 1971-1984
Chris Mortensen – Peyton’s friend; current ESPN NFL analyst
Brandon Washington – First recipient of PeyBack Foundation Scholarship; currently a graduate student at University of Indiana
I guess I had no idea that Peyton Manning and Derek Jeter were so tight, but it makes perfect sense given how successful the two pro athletes were in their respective fields. This also made me realize that I haven’t thought about Jeff Saturday in years. That dude used to be incredible, such a beast. It’s pretty awesome that Gatorade was able to get all of these legendary athletes together to pay homage to another legendary athlete, just goes to show the power of that Citrus Cooler.