High school years

Mannelly attended Marist School in Atlanta, Georgia, where he was a good student and a letterman in football and basketball. In football, he was invited to the Georgia-Florida All-Star game after his senior season. Mannelly graduated from Marist School in 1993.

College career

Mannelly attended Duke University and was a four-year starter at longsnapper and a two-year starter on the offensive line. He missed a majority of senior year due to a mysterious hip injury. In Mannelly's final college game he went up against Mel Tucker; 15 years later Tucker would join Mannelly at the Chicago Bears and became the Bears defensive coordinator.

Professional career

The Bears drafted Mannelly in the sixth round of the 1998 NFL Draft. On September 27, 2010, Mannelly broke Steve McMichael's Chicago Bears record for most games played as a Bear, with 192. In 2006, kicker Robbie Gould claimed that Mannelly played a pivotal part of his productive season, and praised him in his Pro Bowl acceptance speech. Additionally, many of Mannelly's teammates considered him one of the NFL's unsung heroes. In a 2011 game against the San Diego Chargers, Mannelly ruptured his ACL, and was placed on injured reserve. In 2012, Mannelly broke the record for most seasons with the Bears with 15. On December 24, 2012, Mannelly signed a one-year deal with the Bears.

Mannelly retired on June 20, 2014 after a 16-year career. Mannelly ended his career with 81 special teams tackles, the third most by a Bear since 1995, and the longest tenured player in team history.

On September 2, 2014, Mannelly debuted with Chicago sports talk radio station 670 The Score as a co-host to Matt Spiegel.

Personal life

Mannelly was born to Jay and Patty Mannelly. His brother, Bernard, played college football for Notre Dame. He and Tamara John, the daughter of former Major League Baseball pitcher Tommy John, were married in 1998. The couple has one daughter who was born on Christmas Eve 2005. Mannelly is also a spokesperson for the American Lung Association's Athletes and Asthma program.

Mannelly was a recipient of the Ed Block Courage Award on April 8, 2014.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]