Meaning of success? How about Archie?

Not many sports figures awe me anymore, but I gawked at one's every move Monday morning.

He was sitting in the Indianapolis airport, waiting for a plane to Chicago and a connecting flight to who-knows-where?

Except for the eyeglasses positioned down his nose, he could have been a preppy college quarterback at Ole Miss again.

You know, a blue striped button-down shirt, clean blue jeans and loafers with no socks.

Instead of a college kid, however, Archie Manning is sports' Father of the Century.

Hardly anybody at Gate D7 realized he was something special. At least nobody came up to ask for an autograph or have a picture taken with him.

What an oversight, because Manning might be the most successful sports figure in the world these days.

What is more impressive than being the father of two quarterbacks who won the last two Super Bowls?

We all know parents who throw parties because their kid won a Little League game. What do the Mannings throw, their own parade down Celebrity Street for millions of their closest friends?

The NFL has trouble filling 32 starting quarterback jobs and this man is the father of the last two to be world champions.

My job has allowed me to talk with prominent fathers like Michael Jordan's father, James, and Tiger Woods' father, Earl.

But to put Archie Manning in perspective, think if Tiger had a brother who won the Masters the year before or after he did.

Mr. Woods would have been only co-Father of the Century with Mr. Manning.

Not that this Manning doesn't receive attention. TV cameras periodically focus in on him whenever he's at a football game.

But you can't be too famous when you're the father of the Colts' Peyton Manning and the Giants' Eli Manning.

So there I was just staring at Archie Manning as he read the Indianapolis Star, which wasn't named after one of his sons but could have been.

My curiosity wondered whether he was reading about the Bears' victory the night before over the Colts, whether Peyton was on the other end of a cell phone call being consoled, whether a book on parenting was in the briefcase sitting between his feet.

Seriously, fathering consecutive Super Bowl champions is a singular accomplishment, like parenting two straight United States presidents or two straight Oscar best actresses.

Better yet, maybe the only thing to rival Archie Manning would be if a stallion sired back-to-back Secretariats that won back-to-back Triple Crowns.

But Peyton and Eli aren't just world-class athletes. Their parents appear to also have reared two decent, grounded, solid persons.

That would be Archie's greatest feat even if he won a Super Bowl himself instead of being battered around as a quarterback with the Saints and the Vikings.

Over the years I talked 1-on-1 with some of Archie Manning's greatest athletic contemporaries like O.J. Simpson, Pete Rose, Reggie Jackson and Walter Payton.

But I was worried here that Archie Manning might have the seat next to me on Flight 7659 and I would be speechless.

We'll never find out, of course.

I was crammed naturally into coach, while the father of consecutive Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks fit neatly into first class.

mimrem@dailyherald.com