With LSU football retiring the jersey No. 7 of Bert Jones on November 14, 2026, LouisianaSports.net is publishing a series about Jones called 7-on-7 … one story each day for seven days leading up to the jersey retirement ceremony.
The series is written by Pulitzer Prize winner Jeffrey Marx, author of six books including Walking with Tigers: A Collection of LSU Sports Stories.
Bert Jones happened to be passing through New Orleans on his way home from a fishing weekend in South Louisiana. He happened to need an old friend to do a quick favor. And this happened to be the day after No. 8-ranked Ole Miss beat No. 7 LSU 32-24 earlier this football season.
It was late afternoon on Sunday, September 20, when Bert arrived at his friend’s home on St. Charles Avenue. Archie Manning was home alone.
He greeted Bert and they went into Archie’s office. It doubles as a personal museum of sports memorabilia. As patriarch of what’s been called the First Family of Football, Archie has no shortage of trophies and trinkets.
Bert and Archie chatted for a few minutes.
Archie took care of the favor – signing a football Bert’s wife needed for a charity auction.
Then Bert brought up the big game played the previous night in Mississippi. Actually, he did not talk about the game itself. But Archie knew exactly what Bert was saying – “Well, I owe you a dollar” – as he reached into a pocket.
Bert’s mother long ago made clear to her children that gambling was not allowed in the Jones family. Anything more than a dollar was considered gambling. A dollar or less was merely a gentleman’s bet.
So that’s what Bert, the first All-American quarterback at LSU, and Archie, the most famous quarterback in Ole Miss history, have been doing every year for a long time: making a one-dollar “gentleman’s bet” on the annual LSU-Ole Miss game.
Neither one remembers when this started. It was probably close to 20 years ago.
The rules have never changed. If your school loses, you have to write the score on a dollar bill, sign it, and mail it to the victorious alum. (Sometimes a brief editorial comment is added. In 2020, when LSU scored two late touchdowns for a 53-48 come-from-behind victory, Archie included a single word: “Damn.”)
This was the first year payment was made in person – but only because circumstances happened to bring Bert and Archie together that day.
They always enjoy seeing each other.
Archie is 77. In Louisiana, he will always be celebrated – cherished – for the bulk of his NFL years as longtime leader of the New Orleans Saints. He now walks with a cane – recent back surgery having helped with pain in his lower back and legs but his feet still compromised by severe neuropathy.
Bert is 75. He jokes about having been hit “way too many times” playing football and is not always a master of mobility, either. “Old age is not for sissies,” he often says.
But the passage of time – more than half a century of shared experiences – is precisely what makes moments like these so special for Bert and Archie. Every exchange is framed by mutual respect and wrapped in the comfort of familiarity.
Archie handed Bert a blue Sharpie. He smiled as Bert leaned over his desk to write on a dollar bill. Bert enjoyed it, too.
This was not about one guy winning and the other losing.
It was only about friendship – the unique bond between two men long ago crowned with royalty status in the exalted domain of Louisiana football.
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Growing up in Ruston, Louisiana, Bert followed the NFL more than college football. It made sense because his father, Dub Jones, played and then coached for the Cleveland Browns. Bert spent summers as a ballboy in their training camps. He knew all the guys on the Browns and could rattle off names of players throughout the league.
Bert was not like that with college football. He hardly paid attention to it – certainly not enough to know the names of many players. Then – in 1968 – something happened that made him want to learn about one college player in particular.
Bert was a high school senior. His father had just retired from coaching. But he still did some scouting for his NFL friends.
One day, Dub Jones went to see a player at Ole Miss and was extremely impressed. Back home, he told Bert, “I just saw the best college quarterback I have ever seen.”
His name was Archie Manning. He was only a sophomore – a hard-working, respectful kid who had been both a standout athlete and valedictorian of his class in the small farming community of Drew, Mississippi.
“From that point forward, I always wanted to watch Archie,” Bert says. “And not only watch him. I wanted to meet him. If my daddy thinks this much of him, I want to know this guy.”
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For a while, Bert only watched from afar, catching glimpses when Ole Miss was on TV.
Archie was everything his father had told him about.
As Bert would later describe it: “He was so fluid on the field, the way he moved, the way he could throw. He had a cannon for an arm. And he had a presence that I don’t think has been matched.”
In turn, Archie started hearing about Bert when he got to LSU: “I knew they had a really good young quarterback from Ruston.”
They faced each other only once in college. December 5, 1970. No. 8 LSU hosting No. 16 Ole Miss. It was the final game of the regular season and the first Tiger Stadium night game ever televised. The winner would be SEC champion.
Bert was a sophomore splitting time at quarterback with senior starter Buddy Lee.
Archie was a senior and one of the top players in the country. He’d been a contender for the Heisman Trophy until breaking his left (non-throwing) arm. Now – with a steel plate and four screws in that arm and a hard-plastic sleeve protecting it – he was trying to come back sooner than he should have.
LSU won in a blowout: 61-17.
The game ended with fans throwing oranges on the field – because LSU was headed to the Orange Bowl.
And Bert finally got to meet Archie – although it was only a quick post-game handshake and hello. Archie just wanted the night to be done: “You know, it was kind of like, take our whipping and get out of there.”
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The actual getting-to-know-you introduction came two years later. Bert was a senior and first-team All-American preparing for the NFL Draft. Archie had completed two seasons with the Saints and was enjoying his off-season.
Bert had questions: Should I sign with an agent? How would I pick one? What should I be doing before the draft? How about after I’m selected? And so on.
Bert had his father – with all his NFL experience – to lean on. He could have called any of his father’s numerous NFL contacts for guidance. But Bert wanted to speak with someone who had recently been through the same things he was about to experience.
It couldn’t be just anyone, though. He wanted to learn from the one guy he respected the most. He wanted to call Archie.
They did not even know each other – a quick handshake and hello not really qualifying for knowing someone. So this was only a small step up from making a cold call to the starting quarterback of the Saints.
Bert laughs about it now: “I was kind of a stalker. But there was only one Archie Manning. He was somebody I wanted to emulate.”
Archie did not only take the call. He invited Bert to New Orleans.
They played golf. Bert got to ask all his questions. And both young men enjoyed their time together.
When Bert was leaving, Archie told him: “Holler at me anytime.”
So they spoke every now and then.
“That was how our friendship started,” Archie says. “And I treasure that friendship.”
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As things turned out, the Baltimore Colts selected Bert with the second overall pick of the 1973 draft. And his first NFL win as a starting quarterback – third game of his rookie season – came against Archie and the Saints. It was September 30, 1973, at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore.
Both teams were bad. Both had lost their first two games. Their matchup was not filled with top-notch play. But getting that first win was nonetheless a milestone for Bert. Final score: Colts 14, Saints 10.
With the Colts in the AFC and the Saints in the NFC, Bert and Archie never again faced each other in a regular-season game. But the Saints again played in Baltimore during the 1976 preseason. It was a meaningless exhibition game. But something that happened during pregame warmups has always stuck with Archie.
Saints coach Hank Stram – former Super Bowl-winning coach of the Kansas City Chiefs who would end up in the Pro Football Hall of Fame – was watching Bert throw. Stram had been up close to witness some of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history. Among them: Johnny Unitas, Joe Namath, Bart Starr, Terry Bradshaw. But he had never seen such a display of arm strength.
Stram sent an assistant to get Archie. Then coach and quarterback stood together near midfield and watched Bert firing away.
“Have you ever seen anything like this before?” Stram asked Archie.
“Yes, as a matter of fact, I have,” Archie said.
But only because he had previously seen Bert play enough to know what he could do. He knew all about the Ruston Rifle.
“Legendary,” Archie says now. “Bert was unbelievable to watch. I thought he had the best arm I ever saw.”
Archie never told Bert what happened that day during warmups.
But with Bert soon to begin his fourth NFL season – the year he would be named league MVP – he clearly was no longer a stalker. Bert and Archie were peers. They were equals in a two-man mutual admiration society.
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“We experienced a lot of the same things,” Bert says.
He is talking about their football careers.
They both played the highest-profile position for prominent SEC schools with big football traditions.
They were both second-overall picks in the NFL Draft – each going to a struggling team.
Both were respected leaders and team-first guys but ended up with far more personal achievements than team accomplishments. (Bert made the playoffs only three times in 10 NFL seasons – never winning a playoff game. Archie’s 14-year career did not even include a winning season. Translation: They were great players on mostly bad teams.)
Their similar experiences were not limited to football, though. Bert and Archie also had common ground in their overall lives.
They both came from small towns. Ruston was known for its peaches. Drew was what Archie describes as basically “Mayberry” from The Andy Griffith Show.
They both came from families that filled them with healthy perspective. Sports could be a wonderful part of life – fun and important and even life-changing. But there was a whole lot more to life than anything that happened on any field of play. Education was important. Doing right things and doing things right were important. Working hard was a given.
They both married pretty women from their home states. (And the women – Danni Jones and Olivia Manning – hit it off immediately.)
Bert and Archie did not see each other often during their NFL years. They were busy young men with a lot of obligations. But – as high-profile star quarterbacks – they would inevitably end up in some of the same places during their off-seasons.
It might be at an appearance for a corporate sponsor. It might be at a charity event. It might be at a celebrity golf tournament.
The American Airlines Golf Classic – an annual event that paired NFL players with Major League Baseball stars – became a favorite outing for Bert and Archie. And for their wives. Locations included Puerto Rico, California, Arizona, and Hawaii, so beyond the golf, these were wonderful mini-vacations at beautiful resorts.
They gave Bert and Archie good chunks of time together. They were also the foundation for the friendship extending to couples – and later to their children as well.
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One of the most significant football moments shared by Bert and Archie happened nowhere near a field – and it was only by chance that they were together for it.
They were in Los Angeles for a Nike photo shoot. The company was producing a promotional poster called “Field Generals” (eight NFL quarterbacks posing together in old military uniforms).
This was during the off-season – April 1982 – after Bert’s ninth year with the Colts. The team had been struggling – four straight losing seasons and the last one with an ugly 2-14 record. Team owner Robert Irsay – often fueled by alcohol and acting erratically – had turned the once-proud organization into a mess. And there was no real hope that things would get better anytime soon.
Bert wanted out.
And he was not shy about it.
The Colts finally agreed to a deal that allowed Bert a fresh start, trading him to the Los Angeles Rams, who had made the playoffs eight of the previous nine years. Acquiring Bert would likely elevate the Rams to being a Super Bowl contender. First, though, he had to sign a contract before the trade could officially go through.
Rams assistant general manager Jack Faulkner rushed to the hotel where Bert and Archie were staying. Both had just walked into the lobby – separately – when Faulkner arrived. So Bert had not yet broken the news to Archie.
Bert and Faulkner hugged in celebration.
Then Faulkner turned to Archie: “Meet the newest Ram.”
“What?” Archie said. “Really?”
It was true.
Archie turned to Bert: “You lucky son of a …”
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Luck did not stay with him for long.
In only his third game with the Rams – on November 21, 1982 – Bert ruptured a cervical disk and pinched a nerve in his neck. He played one more game. But that was it.
He needed surgery to remove the disk and fuse two vertebrae. And doctors warned that one more hit could paralyze him. In May 1983, Bert retired from football – at 31 – and went home to Ruston.
Archie played two more seasons, first with the Houston Oilers and then with the Minnesota Vikings, and then he was done, too. He returned to his adopted homeland of New Orleans.
With both men back in Louisiana, they saw more of each other than they had during their playing days.
They still lived about 300 miles apart in opposite ends of the state. But Bert and Danni went to New Orleans every now and then. They would meet Archie and Olivia out for dinner. Or they’d visit the Mannings at their house.
And there were times the couples would just end up together at some function. As big-time football stars – former players but still stamped with celebrity status – Bert and Archie were sometimes invited to the same events.
“We always enjoyed being together,” Bert says.
“Our friendship was just natural,” Archie says. “It was easy.”
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Their whole families bonded while visiting Hawaii together. Bert and Archie were invited there – a few times in the early 1990s – to participate in an annual made-for-TV competition called the NFL Quarterback Challenge. (They were in the division for retired quarterbacks.)
It was a great fun-in-the-sun getaway for everyone – parents and children alike. This was long before Peyton and Eli Manning were themselves NFL quarterbacks winning multiple Super Bowls. They were just two of the three Manning boys running around with the four Jones kids.
Bert’s parents went on one of those trips, too, which led to a favorite story both families still laugh about.
Bert and Archie were playing golf with Bert’s dad and Peyton (then 15 or 16). Bert, Archie, and Peyton had already teed off on a par-3 water hole, all safely landing their shots on grass. Then Dub Jones hit.
Splash. Straight in the water.
“Hit another one,” Bert said.
Dub hit again. Right back in the water.
“One more,” Bert said.
Yet another ball disappeared into the drink. Three for three.
“How many times he gonna do that?” Peyton said.
“Until he hits it on the green!” Bert said.
“Ahhhh,” Dub growled. “That’s enough!”
He settled into the cart he was sharing with Peyton.
But Bert knew his dad too well. “He ain’t done,” Bert whispered to Archie.
Moments later, Dub’s determination took over again: “Can I hit another one?”
To Bert, Archie, and Peyton, this was now full comedy.
“Yeah, hit another one!” Bert said.
Dub hopped out of the cart and knocked a ball over the water. The foursome could finally move on. And that story would always be with them – their laughter with every retelling a joyful reminder of how the families had so much fun together in Hawaii.
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They have always showed up for each other.
In the early years of the Manning Passing Academy – a football camp started in 1996 and conducted every summer in Louisiana (now in Thibodaux) – Bert stopped by to help. His youngest child, Beaux, later became a camper and then a counselor. Bert always dropped Beaux off at camp – and usually had a box of Ruston peaches with him for Archie. Bert knew how much his friend loved those peaches. Unfortunately for Archie, his sons also knew. They thought it was hilarious to hide the peaches from their dad and watch him get frustrated trying to find them.
For a while, Bert was one of several hosts for a weekly TV show – Suzuki Great Outdoors – on ESPN. Archie was not a big hunter. But, in late 1998, Bert invited him on a duck hunt to be filmed for the show. Archie spent two days hunting with Bert at the Florence Club in Gueydan, Louisiana. Wearing camouflage and navigating the marsh with Bert, a guide, and a hunting dog was a unique and enjoyable experience for Archie. But his most memorable moment came when one of his sons called him at the lodge. Eli Manning was a high school senior and had finally decided where he wanted to play college football. Archie hustled home to New Orleans the next morning to join Eli for a press conference: His youngest son would be following in his footsteps and playing quarterback at Ole Miss.
Years later, an Ole Miss group organized an “Archie Manning Roast” as a fundraiser. Bert was invited to offer jabs. He went to Mississippi and participated. But what could he really say to make fun of someone he viewed as such a good person and ideal friend? The best Bert could do was make a few cracks about the LSU-Ole Miss rivalry.
The tables were later turned when Archie showed up for Bert on his home turf – and for an occasion with greater meaning. In 2016, Bert was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame. Archie was already a member and also longtime chairman of the National Football Foundation, which oversees the hall of fame. It was in dual roles – both friend and official – that Archie joined Bert for an on-the-field Tiger Stadium ceremony at halftime of the LSU-Ole Miss game on October 22, 2016. Archie presented Bert with a large frame certifying his entry into the hall of fame. “Pretty special no matter what,” Bert says. “But even more so because Archie was the one to be there with me.”
It’s always been like that for these men who have shared so much for so long. They’re not always together in the same place. But they’re always together in friendship … in support of each other … in mutual respect.
“It’s not like we talk every day,” Bert says. “It’s not like we see each other all the time. It’s the presence of a dear friend who really matters to you – and always has.”
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Archie was thrilled when he heard LSU would be retiring Bert’s jersey – making him only the fifth football player in school history to receive that honor.
“That just makes me happy,” Archie says. “I mean, it’s a great school. Bert was a big part of it. And it’s the right thing to do. It’s absolutely the right thing.”
It also raises a good question.
The jersey ceremony will be at halftime of Saturday’s game at Tiger Stadium: LSU hosting Texas. That means Archie’s grandson – Texas quarterback Arch Manning – will for the first time be playing in a college game in his home state. (When Arch was a freshman, Texas played in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, but he never got in the game.)
Tiger Stadium will be packed for the nationally televised game.
Countless fans will enjoy the entire scene playing out in public.
There is also an important question that will be handled in private: With Bert’s standard backing of LSU and Archie’s family allegiance to Texas, will they break tradition and add a second-of-the-season gentleman’s bet to the festivities? Will they dare put another whole dollar on the line?
“I imagine we’ll do that,” Archie says.
Bert concurs: “It’s what friends do.”
Previous stories:
Day 1: The Bert Jones I’ve always known: A personal tribute
Day 2: The real ‘original No. 7’ of LSU football
Day 3: The Ruston Rifle
Day 4: Football, family, and fun: A game weekend for the ages
