New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning has decided the time has come to step away from the NFL, which he will officially announce on Friday morning in East Rutherford.

In Manning’s 16 years, he’s touched many people from all over the country. Some of the stories are known, but many are not. After all, Manning is not someone who craves or even desires the limelight, so hid good deeds and funny ribs often go unnoticed.

Everyone who has crossed with Manning has a story to tell, including two of us here at Giants Wire.

Dan Benton’s story

In 2004, I launched a blog called “Giants 101” at Most Valuable Network, which was one of the first sports blog networks on the internet at the time.

Because we were brand new and because I had no idea what I was doing, credentials were not in the picture. As such, any exclusive coverage of the team would have to be created by attending training camp as a fan and whatever charity events/autograph signings I could.

One year, in either 2005 or 2006, I was attending a training camp practice in Albany and when practice ended, fans flocked to a roped off area where players walked from the field back into the building.

With a football in hand, I stood about midway between the field and the building waiting for the players to come through. As fans filled out the area, I noticed a father and his young son trying to find their way to the front so that he could get an autograph.

I told the father to let his son come up near me so that he could stand on my feet and reach over the rope.

Manning must have seen this because he walked over and signed an autograph for the boy and several other fans in the area. But before continuing on his way, he quietly snatched the ball out of my hand, turned and walked off. He literally said nothing.

I chuckled at first and just assumed he was going to sign the ball and give it to another kid, so I turned around and began to walk away when I heard, “hey!”

I turned back around and there was Manning, about 15-20 yards up the path looking back at me. Again, without saying a word, he reached back and fired the football to me. And yes, I caught it.

I looked down at the football and sure enough, it had his autograph on it.

Manning continued to sign things for other fans and that was that. Another word was not spoken. However, I’ve forever been able to tell anyone who will listen that I once caught a pass from the two-time Super Bowl MVP and future Hall of Famer.

I still have that football.