An Evening with Verne Lundquist and Archie Manning
Please join the Headliners Foundation for our annual Evening with Verne Lundquist event, featuring former New Orleans Saints star quarterback Archie Manning. Verne and Archie will share stories from the sidelines at this annual fundraiser, which benefits the Verne Lundquist Sports Media Institute, a program of the Headliners Foundation.
6:00 p.m. - Exclusive VIP reception
7:00 p.m. - Elegant seated dinner and stories from the sidelines with Verne and Archie
Sponsorships are now available. Click here for pricing and benefits.
We expect this event to sell out quickly, so reserve your sponsorship package today!
Questions? Please contact Executive Director Alison Unger or call the Foundation office at (512) 445-4520.
Verne Lundquist, a longtime Headliners Club member, has been at the center of covering major sporting events for more than 50 years. He began his career at KTBC-TV in Austin, then owned by Lady Bird and President Lyndon Baines Johnson. He was also the long-time voice of the Dallas Cowboys. Lundquist joined CBS Sports in 1982 and broadcast more than 20 sports for the network, including national and international coverage of football, basketball, Olympic figure skating, and golf.
He retired from covering SEC football in 2016 and continues to cover the Masters and other golf tournaments for the network. Lundquist played himself commentating on golf tournaments in the 1996 motion picture Happy Gilmore.
Archie Manning is a Former Saints star quarterback who was enshrined in the New Orleans Saints Hall of Fame in 1988, a nod to the illustrious career he had with the Black and Gold.
The Drew, Miss. native was drafted by the Saints in the first round (second overall) of the 1971 NFL Draft out of Mississippi. Manning was immediately thrusted into the lineup, starting 10 of the 12 games he appeared in during his rookie campaign. His breakout season came in 1972 during his sophomore season, when he started all 14 games, completing 230-of-448 passes for 2781 yards and 18 touchdowns. The pass attempts and completed by Manning that year led the league despite the team going 2-11.
In 1979, Manning led the infant franchise to their first .500 season as he went 252-of-420 for 3,169 yards and 15 touchdowns, earning him a spot on the Pro Bowl roster for the second consecutive year. Overall, Manning played ten full seasons for New Orleans and missed one due to a shoulder injury. He played in 134 games with 129 starts, accumulating career totals of 1,849-of-3,335 passes for 21,734 yards and 115 touchdowns. He finished his career with the Houston Oilers and Minnesota Vikings before retiring from football following the 1984 season.
Following his retirement from football, Manning settled in New Orleans. He has served as an analyst with Saints' television and radio broadcasts, and has worked as a commentator for CBS Sports' college football broadcasts. Manning and his wife Oliva have three sons – Cooper, Peyton and Eli – who he runs the Manning Passing Academy with, which develops young players from grades 8–12 by having them work with high school coaches and college players, while raising money for Special Olympics of Southeast Louisiana. For 25 years, Manning also hosted golf tournaments with his name in Louisiana and Mississippi to raise money for Cystic Fibrosis research. Payton and Eli were signal callers in the National Football League for the Colts, Broncos and Giants, winning two Super Bowls apiece and now star in the Manningcast on ESPN2 and ESPN+, where they provide an alternate broadcast on select Monday Night Football games. In honor of the football accomplishments of Archie, Peyton and Eli, the Allstate Sugar Bowl created the Manning Award to go to the nation's best college quarterback. Archie also has a grandson, Arch, who currently plays quarterback for the University of Texas. Manning is also an owner/investor in a restaurant, Manning's on Fulton Street.
Ed Clements will serve as the event’s Emcee. He is an Austin radio personality, a member of the Headliners Club and has served on the Headliners Foundation’s Verne Lundquist Sports Media Institute Committee since 2018. He was the Emcee for the Institute’s inaugural fundraising event in 2019, An Evening with Verne Lundquist. Clements has spent more than 30 years as a talk show host at KLBJ-AM in Austin. He is also the host for “Crenshaw on Golf” on SIRIUS-XM PGA Tour Radio. Clements is the starter for the Dell Technologies Match Play Tournament and was honored in 2018 by the Southern Texas PGA and the First Tee of Greater Austin for his contributions to the sport of golf. He is currently on the Boards of Texas Alzheimer’s, United Heritage Charity Foundation, the ARC of the Capital Area, and the Save Muny Conservancy.
