Smith: Peyton Manning can’t get a pass on this one

The federal lawsuit filed Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016 says Tennessee created a “hostile sexual environment” through a policy of indifference toward assaults by student-athletes.

USA Today first reported the incident in November 2003, detailing 74 pages of court documents that described the sexual assault of a female trainer at UT and an alleged cover-up. For whatever reason, Peyton and Archie Manning made a decision to break that confidentiality agreement by addressing the incident in their book Manning: A Father, His Sons and a Football Legacy, which they co-wrote with John Underwood. The details of this incident were sealed. Anheuser-Busch, the brewer of Budweiser, said Manning was not paid for the mentions, but Beer Business Daily had reported that Manning, who does many commercials in the United States, is the part-owner of a Bud distributorship in Louisiana.

Naughright sued again, this time against Manning directly for defamation, but according to SI, she again never mentioned him placing his rectum or any body part on her face. He took it further, however, when he went on in the book to accuse Dr. Naughright of having a “vulgar mouth”, an accusation that several witnesses disputed in sworn testimonies and depositions.

Naughright claimed that the school asked her to change her story and say that, when she later left the Knoxville school, it was because an African-American athlete had exposed himself to her and was not because of the alleged incident with Manning.

“Naughright’s boss, Rollo, called her “[expletive] bumper”, or “bumper”, a derogatory phrase directed at a lesbian (though she is not), and referred to a Tennessee women’s team as the “Lady Lickers”.

“While it is outrageous that the University of Tennessee chose to turn a blind eye to sexual violence by student athletes like Manning, it would be flat-out unacceptable for the National Football League and major companies like Nationwide Insurance and Papa John’s Pizza to continue to stand with Manning in light of emerging evidence”, Chaudhary said in the statement.

Now, much more of the country has learned about Manning’s alleged sexual assault on then-trainer Dr. Jamie Naughright at the University of Tennessee in 1996, apparent attempts to discredit and defame her, and eventual lawsuits and settlements. She immediately filed a complaint with the university. Another player told police one of their teammates had put a “hit out” on Bowles.

It ultimately lead to Naughwright filing a complaint that was eventually settled as the Manning family and the University did their best to bury the incident. A document in which Naughright’s attorneys laid out their side of the story. It was out there, yet was hardly considered a blemish on Manning’s otherwise spotless public image (mostly before those HGH allegations emerged).

Manning missed the entire 2011 season with a neck injury, and six games this past season with a foot injury, but played in all 16 games in each of his other 16 National Football League seasons.

Athletes and former athletes swore in depositions that Naughright conducted herself professionally and, eventually, the lawsuit was settled for an undisclosed sum.

Shaun King covered the sexual assault complaint against Manning for The New York Daily News, suggesting the absence of Twitter and Facebook may have helped keep this story from becoming a full-blown scandal.