Hopefully, you were able to see the ESPN documentary “Book of Manning,” which debuted last Tuesday night.

I had a work function that evening so I recorded the program on my DVR and stayed up until midnight watching this incredible look into the lives of the “first family of football,” the Mannings.

This poignant film produced by Rory Karpf started off by chronicling the life of the family patriarch, Archie, beginning with his days as a young boy growing up in the rural Mississippi farming community of Drew. At the time, Archie’s best sport was baseball, but his passion was football. His desire and talent turned the skinny, freckled, red-headed kid into one of the greatest players in Mississippi high school history. His father’s love of all things Mississippi was passed down to Archie, so it made perfect sense that the superstar quarterback would attend the University of Mississippi.

Then the film moved to Archie’s days as a quarterback for the Ole Miss Rebels and his time under famed head coach Johnny Vaught. Everyone was amazed at the talent and abilities of this kid from Drew, Miss. However, the story took a tragic turn when Archie found his father dead from a self inflicted gunshot wound in the family home.

For the first time publicly, Archie speaks candidly about his father’s suicide and how losing his father at a young age impacted his life.

After Ole Miss, Archie was drafted by the New Orleans Saints and spent many years running for his life because of the pitiful teams on which he played. However, the film focuses more on Archie as a parent and a father rather than that of a football player.

As I watched this documentary, I reflected on my life and my own relationship with my father. My dad, Leo, was a good athlete in high school. He played football, basketball and baseball and would eventually go on to play football and baseball at LSU. Like Archie’s father, my dad was a proud Louisianan, and he followed and rooted for players and teams from the Bayou State, which was one of many traits that my father would pass down to me, his youngest son.

Growing up in Lafayette during the 1970s, we had the luxury of watching both the Saints and Dallas Cowboys games. Like most kids, my favorite players were Archie Manning and Roger Staubach. What incredible players and even better men. What spectacular role models for young boys in those days.

The film would move into Manning’s raising of their three sons, Cooper, Peyton and Eli. Karpf was able to utilize some 8mm film Archie had taken of the boys playing football in the back yard and eventually at Newman High School in New Orleans.

This segment of the documentary really hit home with me for a few reasons. First, the age differences of the Manning brothers are similar to that of my brothers, Phil and Jeff, who are seven and five years older than me, respectively. I can relate to Eli because I’m not only the youngest, but I really looked up to and to some degree idolized my brothers. I aspired to be a great athlete like they were.

Thanks to Archie’s films, the documentary was able to truly capture the essence of the relationships and interactions of the Manning boys. It made me think back to all the backyard football and baseball games my brothers and I played when we were young. I remember the seemingly endless Wiffle ball games Phil and I often played. Despite the age difference, he always seemed to have time to play ball with his little brother. And I’ll never forget that one fall Sunday playing when we were embroiled in a heated game of football when Jeff tackled me and broke my collar bone. At the time, my father was out of town, and we had only one car, so mom had to call a neighbor to transport me to the hospital. Now that we’re adults and live in different parts of the state and don’t see each other very often, it makes those memories all the more special.

Archie appeared on “The Tim Brando Show” the morning after the documentary aired. In his typical “aw shucks” humble demeanor, the elder Manning tried to downplay his role in the film. He even commented that after originally agreeing to do it he reneged on the deal. Manning said it was his wife, Olivia, who told him that they needed to do this for their grandchildren. When asked about the reactions of his two most famous sons, Archie jokingly replied that the “wordy” Eli said, “It was good.” He also said that Peyton found some things that weren’t quite accurate. Typical of the star NFL quarterbacks’ different personalities.

Whether you’re a big football fan or just a casual observer, “The Book of Manning” is a film that I highly recommend because it has a little something for everyone. I deliberately tried not to go into too much detail about the film because I want those who haven’t seen it to do so without any preconceived ideas. ESPN has done some incredible sports documentary work on its “30 for 30” series, and this film, which was dubbed an “SEC Storied” film by the network, was as good if not better than any of those previous documentaries. You owe it to yourself to see it.

Charlie Cavell may be reached at [email protected].