Peyton Manning and other football stars who hosted music award shows
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With the Country Music Association Awards around the corner, everyone remembers last year’s Peyton Manning’s appearance as co-host. Mannin, one of the most famous Denver Broncos quarterbacks, joined country singer Luke Bryan on stage and was so praised by the public that they recently announced that they will also co-host this year’s edition.
Though the player has an extended football career, first in the Indianapolis Colts, to his four seasons with the Broncos and winning the Superbowl twice, he has branched his personality to show business, such as TV commercials, and even singing with Kenny Chesney.
The five-time MVP retired in 2016 after breaking the record as the oldest quarterback to play and win the Super Bowl, three years after Tom Brady had obtained the title.
Still, Manning isn’t the first football star to get on the stage of an award show, so you might like to remember these players, too:
J.J. Watt
In June 2016, the Arizona Cardinal got everyone laughing at the CMT Music Awards alongside Erin Andrews. He made a shoutout to Carrie Underwood, who is married to Nashville Predators’ Mike Fisher.
He almost got into a “fight” with the player who recalled that he liked hitting people from Nashville, joking about his position as a defensive end.
Watt was with the Houston Texans for almost ten years, but he played baseball, hockey, and basketball before being drafted. The player was host for one occasion and received several awards during his career, such as All-Area and All-Conference as tight end and defensive end.
At the time, Watt was still one of the NFL’s most famous bachelors, but four years later, he married soccer player Kealia Ohai, with whom he has a one-year-old son. The Texans alumni retired after 12 years of career when the 2022 season ended; he had a last game in January 2023 with the Cardinals against the San Francisco 49ers. He announced that he wanted to spend more time with his family.
Don Meredith
The late Dallas Cowboys had a long career related to football, such as color analyst for NFL telecasts in the eighties and member of the Monday Night Football broadcast team since 1970, as part of the original cast, after spending eight seasons with the Cowboys.
Meredith also appeared at the 16th Academy of Country Music Awards in 1981, hosted in Los Angeles along with Larry Gatlin and Tammy Wynette. The player was one of the biggest football stars in the ’60s; he was very liked by the Cowboys fans, even being named NFL Player of the Year in 1966.
He spent some time working with Curt Gowding for the NFL on NBC covering the IX Super Bowl when he got a big reputation after some incidents jokingly referring to President Richard Dixon.
Later, he had a brief acting career, mainly as different characters in the TV show Police Story.
Terry Bradshaw
The 2001 TNN Music City News Country Awards were hosted by Bradshaw, who was already a legend, mainly because of his 14 seasons as the quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The gunslinger won four Super Bowls and also made a career in country music; he even made it to the Billboard Hot 100 and recorded several gospel and country albums and a few Christmas songs.
The Football Hall of Fame member was also four times nominated for Grammy Awards and participated in the first season of The Masked Singer in 2019 before being eliminated in the third episode.
Also knowon as the Blonde Bomber, he also worked as a sports analyst and co-host of the Fox NFL Sunday, CBS Sports, NFL Today, and others; he even received three Sports Emmy Awards as studio analyst. Bradshaw might be mostly remembered as one of the most powerful arms in NFL history, but he also enjoyed some time in TV and movies, which led him to become the first NFL player to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Ahmad Rashad
Before becoming a TV personality, Rashad was mainly known for his role as a wide receiver for the Minnesota Vikings. Still, he also played for the Buffalo Bills, the St. Louis Cardinals, and the Seattle Seahawks. His football career ended after he retired in 1981, but 8 years later, he hosted the 3rd Soul Train Music Awards.
Patti LaBelle and Dionne Warwick joined Rashad, and this year, the most awarded artist was Michael Jackson, who also received the Heritage Award for Career Achievement.
The star has built an extensive career in broadcasting. He has covered NFL, NBA, MLB, contests, reality TV shows, game shows, and more, but his most remembered role was as the host of NBA Inside Stuff for 16 seasons.
As for today, Ahmad Rashad is part of the digital content team for the New York Teams, where he interviews different roster members for their YouTube channel.
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