Eli Manning was &8220;the&8221; Rebel the past two-three football seasons.

And when it became evident that he was a major league star out of college at Ole Miss his dad Archie was elated that the New York Giants of professional football were more than interested in signing the &8220;Reb.&8221;

Archie had a &8220;Giant&8221; wish for his multi-talented quarterback-son, and the Giants played a major part in his dream for his big, tall son that got the job done at Ole Miss.

It seems Archie had hoped all along that Eli would get to play for the Giants, but you know how &8220;wishing&8221; and &8220;getting&8221; goes when you’re being bounced around at contract time.

Betcha one thing: Archie Manning influenced at least a serious look at Eli in all aspects of contract negotiations. Archie reminded in the last few days that he was a New York Giants fan years ago while growing up in Drew and how easy it has been jumping back &8220;on&8221; with a son now a Giants player.

It simply looks good, you know it, when a dad becomes a fan of a certain team and years later his son is signed by that very club to play for them. I can just see ole red-faced Archie right now beaming about it all.

Archie, in fact, has been a Giants fan for years, so it was easy for him to ease right into the limelight with his son when the time came.

&8220;My dad (Buddy Manning) always pulled for Mississippi (pro) players and Charlie Conerly of Clarksdale and Ole Miss was the Giants quarterback, so Dad was a big Giants fan,&8221; Archie has said. &8220;Naturally, I became one, too.&8221;

&8220;Chunkin’&8221; Charlie Conerly was big with the Giants from 1948 until 1961, earning an MVP award once. And he is just one of 23 former Ole Miss players to have played with the Giants. Some of Archie’s earliest memories of pro football were of &8220;watching Conerly quarterback the Giants.&8221;

Hey, they’re stirring my memory, too, now. Of course, I’ve only been a football fan some 65 years now. There’s no sport greater. Football’s &8220;it,&8221; that’s all.

Hats off to Natchez native Von Hutchins, one more fine athlete who played his high school football at Cathedral before starring at Ole Miss in the SEC.

What happened? Well it was written about here in The Natchez Democrat &045; vaunted Von was drafted in the sixth round of the prestigious NFL football draft by the Indianapolis Colts.

Von was in the top 20 picked at his position, and that speaks loads. Talk about fast company, it doesn’t get any faster than the National Football League.

Today’s Thursday, and that’s the day Von reports to the Colts for a brief time in the Colts’ rookie camp. Granted at 5-9 Von may be rated by some as too small to hang in there as a professional cornerback. But just watch.

Natchez believes the Colts know what they’re doing in taking Von, a smart player as well as multi-talented. Let me tell you: When a Natchez athlete is grabbed by the next level, just figure that he has a good chance to hang tough wherever he winds up. Pull for Natchezian Von Hutchins; he deserves it.

Glenvall Estes is a longtime columnist for The Natchez Democrat.