Sports Illustrated

The Fan Teaser: Week 149 Solution

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Latin anyone? Does pater familia mean anything?
There are few families that have had the same impact on a sport that the Manning Family has had on football.

The patriarch (e.g. pater familia) was Archie Manning, a 3-year starter for the Ole Miss Rebels in the rugged Southeastern Conference. While there, Manning finished fourth and third in the Heisman Trophy voting his junior and senior seasons’ respectively (Oklahoma’s Steve Owens in 1969 and Stanford’s Jim Plunkett in 1970).

After an 8-3 finish and Sugar Bowl victory over Arkansas in 1969, Manning – entering his senior season – was the Sports Illustrated coverboy for its annual college football edition. The cover photo (taken by Art Shay) was from the previous November when the Rebels waxed rival Tennessee, 38-0, in a game played in Jackson, MS.

Archie Manning Sports Illustrated Cover
Ole Miss quarterback Archie Manning was a Sports Illustrated coverboy 55 years ago in this image captured during a game with Tennessee the previous November in Jackson, MS. (Photo by Art Shay/Sports Illustrated)

Now, in a full-circle moment of sorts, Archie’s namesake and grandson, Arch Manning, is Sports Illustrated‘s 2025 digital college football preview edition coverboy. (You’re able to read SI writer Michael Rosenberg’s feature on him here. ) And, like his granddad 55 years earlier, Arch is a pre-season Heisman favorite. Though, quite unlike Archie the elder, he’s only started two college games at this point.

Arch Manning Sports Illustrated Coverboy
Archie Manning’s grandson, Arch, is set to take the helm of the Texas Longhorns offense this season. (Photo by Sara Diggins/Austin American-Statesman)

For those wondering, the Manning family tree finds Archie at the top, his oldest son, Cooper, is followed by Peyton, and then Eli. Arch is the son of Cooper who was never able to play football as a wide receiver at his dad’s alma mater because of a spinal stenosis diagnosis.

Just to review, The Fan Teaser was the creation of former Ann Arbor News Sports Editor Geoff Larcom. Longtime friend and fellow Ann Arbor News alum, Pat Schutte, took it to heights previously unknown. We aim to keep it alive here at The Sports Fan Project. The cropped photo and the accompanying clue give you an idea as to who or what the image is of. We invite you to use the Comment option to take a crack at solving the Teaser and, if you’re so inclined, participate in some good-spirited banter with your fellow sports fans. The Fan Teaser will appear each Friday morning with the reveal coming to you Sunday.

The Fan Teaser: Week 117 Solution

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This image is notable not just for the action but
for the technology by which it was taken. We’re
looking for the game, the year, the outcome,
and – if you’d like A LOT of extra credit, why was
this image so technologically advanced?

This image was captured in New Orleans’ then-Superdome during the 1981 Sugar Bowl by Sports Illustrated photographer, Heinz Kluetmeier. It’s notable not only because it captures University of Georgia freshman, Herschel Walker, scoring from a yard out, but also because it was the first time a photographer used strobe lights in a domed stadium. Notice, in the full image below, how bright the players appear.

We’re also running a photo from Kluetmeier because the legendary SI photographer died on Tuesday at the age of 82. Here is fellow SI staffer Jon Wertheim‘s obituary.

Georgia freshman running back Herschel Walker goes airborne to score from the 1-yard-line for the top-ranked Bulldogs during their 17-10 victory over seventh-ranked Notre Dame in the 1981 Sugar Bowl. (Photo by Heinz Kluetmeier/Sports Illustrated)

Three of Kluetmeier’s most notable offerings have already been used by us as Fan Teasers. He was in rink at Lake Placid for Team USA‘s stunning upset of the Soviets in the 1980 Winter Olympics (Week 71 Fan Teaser). It served as Sports Illustrated‘s cover on its March 3, 1980, issue. Beyond the name of the magazine and the date it contained no other text on the cover; a first in SI‘s history. He also happened to have is underwater camera set up in 2008’s Beijing Olympics and caught American Michael Phelps out-touching Serbia’s Milorad Cavic in the 100-meter Butterfly (Week 61 Fan Teaser). And his image of Jackie Joyner-Kersee from the longjump in the 2008 Seoul Olympics (Week 93 Fan Teaser).

More of Heinz Kluetmeier’s incredible work from the pages of Sports Illustrated.

If you’d like to see which shots Kluetmeier most admired, check out this 2008 article in Sports Illustrated where he discusses some of his all-time favorite photos.

Just to review, The Fan Teaser was the creation of former Ann Arbor News Sports Editor Geoff Larcom. Longtime friend and fellow Ann Arbor News alum, Pat Schutte, took it to heights previously unknown. We aim to keep it alive here at The Sports Fan Project. The cropped photo and the accompanying clue give you an idea as to who or what the image is of. We invite you to use the Comment option to take a crack at solving the Teaser and, if you’re so inclined, participate in some good-spirited banter with your fellow sports fans. The Fan Teaser will appear each Friday morning with the reveal coming to you Sunday.

The Fan Teaser: Week 71 Solution

DouglasTHillLeave a comment
Oh say can you see where this image was captured?

A slam dunk, er, an empty netter?

No doubt!

One of the most iconic images in the history of American sports is this one captured by Sports Illustrated‘s German-born photographer, Heinz Kluetmeier. It’s the celebration behind the Team USA goal following its improbablle, 4-3, 1980 Olympic semifinal upset of the heavily favored Soviet Union. It became know as the “Miracle on Ice.”

Team USA Celebration
Team USA celebrates its 4-3 victory over the Soviet Union in the 1980 Olympics. (Photo by Heinz Kluetmeier/Sports Illustrated)

The moment occurred just over 44 years ago (February 22) and the upstart Americans went on to win the Gold Medal game a couple days later, 4-2, over Finland. Kluetmeier’s photo adorned the cover of the March 3 edition of SI (44 years ago today). That cover is the only one in the magazine’s storied history to run without a headline or caption.

“It didn’t need it. Everyone in America knew what happened,” Kluetmeier later said.

Sports Illustrated Cover
The Sports Illustrated cover.
The closing moments of the Miracle on Ice game from Lake Placid, NY, February 22, 1980.

Just to review, The Fan Teaser comes courtesy of longtime buddy, Pat Schutte. The cropped photo below and the accompanying clue give you an idea as to who or what the image is of. We invite you to use the Comment option to take a crack at solving the Teaser and, if you’re so inclined, participate in some good-spirited banter with your fellow sports fans. The Fan Teaser will appear each Friday morning with the reveal coming to you Sunday.