Kristian: Family Matters!

The Williams sisters facing off in the Wimbledon finals over the weekend had me pondering the question, who are the greatest sports families of all time?

There have been many great sports families:  Venus and Serena Williams, the DiMaggio brothers, Ken Griffey Jr. and dad Ken Sr. and of course the Mannings - just to name a few of the more successful sports family's in the pros.  I know I've missed some, but those are some that I've been able to come up with. 

Oh, let’s see.  Who did I forget?   What about the Aaron brothers?  What, you didn't know Hank Aaron had a brother?  That's right; Hank and Tommy Aaron were once the subject of baseball trivia as the two who combined for the most homeruns by siblings in professional baseball. 

What about Phil and Joe Niekro?  The two knuckleballers are the winningest brother combination in baseball history, and combined for over 4,400 strike outs.  Phil was inducted into the baseball hall of fame in 1997.  

Ken Griffey Jr. was selected as the top pick in major league baseball's 1987 draft and has played 20 seasons in the big leagues.  Jr. has a Major League M.V.P trophy to boot (1997). His father Ken Griffey Sr. was a three time all-star and tallied two championships with "The Big Red Machine" (Cincinnati Reds) in 1975 and 1976. 

What about the Mannings?  Let's start with the eldest, Archie.  Manning was the starting quarterback at Ole Miss for three years. In the first national prime time broadcast of a college football (1969), Manning threw for 436 yards and three touchdowns.  The patriarch of the football family  also rushing for 104 yards, in a 33-32 loss to Alabama .That 540-yard performance is still tied for the SEC record for most total yards in a game. 

After his college career at Ole Miss, The New Orleans Saints drafted Manning  in the 1971 NFL with the second overall pick. Manning played for the Saints for ten full seasons, none of them winning. In 1972 he led the league in pass attempts and completions, and he led the NFL in passing yards, though the team's record was only 2–11–1. In 1978, he was named the NFC Player of the Year after leading the Saints to a 7–9 record. That same year, Archie was also named All-NFC by both the UPI and Sports Illustrated.  Manning ended his 13-year career having completed 2,011 of 3,642 passes for 23,911 yards and 125 touchdowns.  He also rushed for 2,197 yards and 18 touchdowns.   His record as a starter was 35–101–3 (26.3%), the worst in NFL history among QB's with at least 100 starts.

Moving on to Peyton Manning.   He holds NFL records for consecutive seasons with over 4,000 yards passing and the most total seasons with 4,000 or more yards passing in a career.   Since the Colts drafted Manning in 1998, the team has the highest conversion rate on 3rd down (44.6%) and 4th down (61.1%) plays in the NFL. While leading the Colts to their Super Bowl XLI victory in 2006, Manning helped the team to an NFL record by converting 56.1% of its 3rd downs.  Manning was selected first overall in the draft.   In his rookie season he passed for 3,739 yards with 26 touchdowns, set five different NFL rookie records, including most touchdown passes in a season, and was named to the NFL All-Rookie First Team. Manning’s career has blossomed since his rookie season, he's tallied 3 NFL M.V.P. trophies, a Super Bowl M.V.P to his credit and a Super-Bowl title. 

Last, but not least is Eli Manning.  The San Diego Chargers originally held the rights to the overall first pick in the 2004 NFL Draft. With Manning being the most highly coveted player in the draft, it appeared that the Chargers' intentions were to draft Manning. However, Manning expressed his refusal to play for the Chargers if drafted by them. The Chargers selected him with the first pick overall anyway, however unknown to Manning, the Chargers had a deal in place with the New York Giants.  The Giants would draft and then trade Philip Rivers and draft picks to the Chargers for Manning. 

Eli didn't become the Giants full-time starter until 2005.  He finished in the top 5 in both passing yards and touchdown passes, while leading an offense that finished 3rd in the NFL in scoring, with a total of 422 points. It was the most points the Giants scored in a single season since 1963. The Giants won the NFC East with an 11–5 record and went to the postseason. The one knock on Eli during his first full season was his efficiency. Even though the Giants finished at the top of the NFC East, Manning himself struggled during his first full year as starting quarterback. Eli completed just 52.8% of his passes with a modest 6.8 yards per attempt, producing an unimpressive quarterback efficiency rating of 75.9 (23rd in the league).

Many sports commentators questioned his abilities. Manning visibly wore down late in the 2006 season. His play fell off, culminating in a poor performance in the playoffs against Carolina with a 23-0 shutout loss. It wasn't until 2007, when Eli blossomed as an NFL quarterback after many experts questioned if ever would live up to his billing.   

He turned it up a notch in the playoffs that year.   Manning took his underdog team on an unprecedented road trip through the playoffs beating the Buccaneers in Tampa Bay, the Cowboys in Dallas, the Packers  in Green Bay and the previously unbeaten Patriots in the Super Bowl in Arizona.  Like his brother Eli was named Super Bowl M.V.P. 

Now that you've read the accomplishments of some of the best sprots families,  I ask you this; Who is the top sports family over all? 

I asked that same question to WWL's Jim Henderson, and it was pretty easy for him to pick a winner.  "What the Mannings accomplished is something that will never be accomplished again,” Henderson said.  “They have three number one draft choices, three all-pro quarterbacks -two of which were Super Bowl M.V.P's in back to back years.  I think probably as a team accomplishment, you would have to rate the Mannings the highest."

What about the Williams sisters, Venus and Serena?  Where do they rank?  They've combined to win 20 grand slam tennis titles and 5 Olympic gold medals, not to mention they've racked up over 950 wins in their careers.

"There's no more individual game than Tennis, although your opponent can have a bad day on an individual sports standpoint,”  Henderson said.  “You'd have to say the Williams sisters are at the top." 

While we've highlighted a few great families in sports, I'm sure we left some out.  I have to tell you prior to sitting down and doing some research for this column, I had no idea how many families have brothers or sisters in pro-sports.  It's amazing!  Most parents only dream of having their kid become successful.  Having a professional athlete is amazing, and very few get two or more to become pro athletes.  Heck, even fewer see the success of the aforementioned in this story.  If you would like to alert me to another family that I haven't included, feel free to email me at kgaric@entercom.com.